Persona:The conclusion
by Windraider
Summary: Formally known as retrival of the past 6 years have passed since she left. 7 years she searched for a miracle, and now after 7 long years, she found the key to making one in the form of a child. Now armed with a key and newly acquired hope, she strives to trace the steps he left behind. Accepting OC's read the conditions first. CHAPTER 1 IS DRASTICALLY REWRITTEN!
1. Character requirements

Okay I realized my list is far from complete.

It especially involves the personas itself.

Here I'll redo the list.

Okay same as before, I'm going to write an OC story, so I would like to list out several

rules before you submit though...if you are going too anyway.

There will be new conditions since I also realized how stupid my previous ones were.

FIRST off, I am not taking a persona 4 approach. No I am taking a persona

3 approach. Meaning, personas are summoned through Evokers and not

cards.  
Thing is, Persona's last longer like in the anime and doesn't disappear after one single hit alone.

* * *

SECONDLY, Well, I was wrong in not allowing Teenagers unless they were well developed. I was wrong I admit.

It made me realize that I had a narrow mind, so yeah, there are no longer any age restrictions. STILL NO DRAMATIC PAST BTW!

* * *

THIRDLY, I am not going to take a day approach where the MC goes schooling

in the morning and fighting at night. Yeah this isn't going to change no matter what one says.

No! This time round, the MC has the time role reversed, schooling in the

night, and interaction in the morning. So you guys are going to have to think

more about this, since it's not the typical morning-night event.

Now there's afternoon events as well.

* * *

FOURTH and most important: No Cliche backgrounds. The challenge of this

story's characters background is interesting and yet not dramatic or

example? Mitsuru. If anyone gives me a character with a dramatic

or heavy background like hers, IMMEDIATELY REJECTED!

Fifth: I won't say that this is a story with Social links, but there is

something similar, so keep that in mind that acquiring an ultimate persona will

be different from P4.

Think P3, when all the characters made their resolution instead.

Yet the final Persona which is something that must be made after aquiring their ultimate personas.

Okay, here's the new added list.

* * *

Name:

Age:

Gender:

Weapons(If your more the type to use weapons instead of personas.)

Personality:

Time of avalibitly during the day, afternoon and night(Yes, now there's afternoon as well)

Avalibility during day:

Avalibility during afternoons:

Avalibility during nights:

Appearance:

Arcana:

Strengths:

Weakness:

Style of fighting:

Initial Persona:  
Apperance:

Personality:(Yeah, I'm considering this, but don't count on it)

Resolution to unlock final persona:

Evolved Persona:

Apperance:  
Personality:

Condition to unlock true final persona(Like what path they plan on following in life)(Think of this as a hidden level 11 social link)

True Final Persona:

Personality:

Apperance:

History:

Interest:

How they acquired the evoker:

How did they discover their potential the first time round:


	2. chapter 1

**Well I think I did a major screw up on the first chapter, poor writing and cutting it off half way, so I decided to rewrite it, I hope it's better.**

**Chapter 2 will be up in a few hours.**

**Btw, first half is similar to near the same, but the latter half of chapter 1 is drastically rewritten and not half ass like I did before.**

* * *

Sakuno Sakazaki twriled his pen about. He could never get use to night lessons. He scribbled about on his paper, not listening to whatever the teacher was saying. The teacher sitting next to him didn't seem to pay much attention to the fact that he was idiling away.

"Psst. Hey..."

He looked to the side where a girl with short brown amburn hair and red eyes called him. Her choice of outfit was a simple orange blouse. She too like him was a student belonging to the night class.

"Yes Miyuki? What is it?"

"Is it me, or does our teacher being distracted? I mean, she doesn't even realize that the book she's holding is upside down."

He snorted at her. "Good point, she just came out of nowhere and replaced our old teacher who caught the so called apathy syndrome."

"Isn't that weird?."

"I was hoping that we would have more time to ourselves when they needed to find another teacher, but I was wrong."

"Yeah, kind of a pity. Also our teach is a bit strange right?"

"Yeah, and the replacement teacher is definately a foreigner who seems to have some trouble speaking Japanese at times." A hard impact to the back of his head cut him off. He immediately turned around to see who had struck him.

"No talking the two of you, and Sakuno, stay back after class. I want to have a word with you."

He simply groan. He could already figure out easily just what she was going to say. Now it was just a matter of going along with it, to him, there was already no choice in his next move. His so called teacher was going to make very sure of it.

"Got it Elizabeth-sensei."

* * *

"I assume you know what I'm about to ask." A woman asked as she sat across the table facing him. She was a young woman in her late teens to early twenties at most. Her fringe white hair reached her neck. Her choice of clothing was unusual to say the least. "Are you prepared for tonight?"

"Can't you get someone else to do it instead? I am only ten years old after all." He snorted. "Besides, you told me that there were others in the past who were able to do so, why not get them to do it?"

She sighed in annoyance to his response. "Those people aren't available anymore, they are all in different parts of the world with no way to contact them. This means, that at the moment, the only ones who can do anything are you and me."

"Can't you than awaken someone else's potential? I'm only ten for crying out loud! I don't want to spend my life fighting evil monsters that could potentially kill me!" He shouted in frustration. He reached into his jersey to pull out a gun. He placed it onto the table. "Take the evoker back. I know you said that once I manage to summon my persona, everything will be easier from there. Yet every time I come close, I freeze up!"

However his teacher simply sighed and pushed it back to him. "It's too late. There is nothing I can do, for when the dark hour begins, those not in the coffins will be attacked. With your potential awaken, you are now a prime target for shadows, unless you wish to die early, you have to fight."

"It's not fair." He slumped his head down onto the table. "Why can't I just use that method of yours, summoning persona's by cards? Why do I have to use such a crazy method?"

"It's because of our nature I'm guessing. Despite my appearance, I am not truly human, but a being who rules over power. That is probably the main reason why I can summon a lot easier as compared to you."

He lifted his head to frown at her for a second before putting it back down onto the table. "They are going to come back tonight aren't they?" He asked without looking at her.

"That's right, they'll be back tonight, and you and I are the only ones who can fight them."

He stayed in that position for several moments before he looked up at her. "Say...is it possible to find more members? No matter how much potential I have, I'm just a kid, I can't do this."

"Finding new members is out of the question, it would depend greatly on your luck, as only a few out of millions could hope to awaken their potential, you are either greatly blessed, or greatly curse"

He lifted his head off the table to stare at her. "I'll go for the curse part."

"All the more reason you must learn to protect yourself."

He looked away.

She knelt down in front of him.

"You can do it. Once you cross the bridge, you will find everything to be that much simpler."

She simply sighed as she turned around to look up at the clock. "It's already 10:30. I suggest you head back, midnight will soon arrive."

* * *

Sakuno no matter how much he hated it, no matter how much he denied it, knew full well that nothing was going to change.

He along with his night class teacher stood out in the middle of the street covered with blood. In front of him was a gigantic tower. He had no idea how the tower came to be in place of Gekoukan high school. Apparently the name of the tower was Tartarus.

He sighed as he recalled just how at how quickly things ended up in this situation.

Just three days ago, he was just like any other ten year old child with some problems of his own. He was a single child of a single mother who was struggling to meet ends meet. Because of financial issues, he wasn't able to go to school like most other kids. Still, his mother insisted on him getting some education, even if that meant that he had to take night school.

Night school was his only source of education for over a month or so. Things were peaceful until three days ago when on the world suddenly turned eerily green one night when he was sleeping.

To say he was frightened would be a huge understatement. He had no idea what was going on. One thing was certain, he wished that he had not opened the windows back then. The sight of the world covered with blood all over, made him scream.

He bolted out of the room to look for his mother.

Only to find that in place of her was blood stain coffin on the bed. The shock had been so great that he had passed out. When he woke up, the world was back to normal. The next night which was two days ago, his night class teacher had been replaced with another teacher who called herself Elizabeth. She didn't look much older than any regular teenager, in fact she might even be able to pass herself off as one with how young she looked.

At first he didn't mind it at all, until after class, she told him to stay back, to show him something, and that something was the dark hour.

She clearly didn't explain everything to him, but she showed him enough of the dark hour. The hidden hour between the 24 hours that only a selected few can enter. She didn't explain how it came about, claiming she didn't know anything about it, but he doubted that was the truth.

It was at that very moment did she introduce the power of persona to him as she revealed his own potential.

She did however say, that now that the fact that he was able to retain consciousness is proof enough of his potential. It was on that very night, did she introduce him to personas and shadows.

She said that he was able to summon one as well, however the matter was that he first had to summon up enough courage to be able to do so. Once he did, everything will be all right, and things will become much easier.

Although...

"I can't do this." He sighed. He was far from ready mentally and physically.

"But you must, if you do not, you know that you will be next to die right? Shadows attack those not in coffins."

She simply sighed. She knew that it was impossible to reason wtih him and so she gave up on words. She had decided to just drag into the tower against his will. _"My time in the human world has taught me much, but nothing has prepared me for the handling of children."_

Elizabeth was a woman of many talents, both useful and just plain weird at times. But none of those talents ever helped her when it came to children. They just didn't understand her intentions. Tried as she liked, every kid just thought she was plain weird or crazy.

Sakuno however just thought she was nuts and freaky. To be honest, that was somewhat refreshing. There weren't many people who were honest about their feelings unlike him.

It was one of the reasons why she had taken such an interest in him. Were it any other child, she might have not have been tolerant enough to teach them how to use their potential, and instead might have just kept them in the dark by telling them to stay home instead.

It didn't take long before she dragged him against his will. Once inside, he simmered down a bit as he was in awe by the surroundings. Meanwhile, she simply continued starred at a specific spot next to the stairs. Where there was nothing there at all.

"Hey! What's wrong?"

The tension he had earlier on was dispelled slightly ever since entering the tower. He pulled on her outfit trying to get her attention.

"You there? Hello? Creepy lady who likes creepy things, you there?"

"How rude you are. Are all children your age this impatient and rude?"

"I don't think children my age are supposed to be out at night fighting evil monsters and climbing a dark tower infested with them."

She thought about it for a second or so. She looked up at the ceiling as if pondering his words.

"Is that so? How unusual, I remember there being a child your age several years ago who took part in this event."

He facefaulted. He wanted to strangle the idiot who apparently gave her the impression that kids were supposed to be doing things like this.

"That must be a one of a kind kid than."

"Yes, much like you are. Now shall we begin our journey into the tower?"

Immediately he paled as she forcefully dragged him against his will up the stairs and into the first floor of the tower.

* * *

For a boy, it was shameful to hide himself behind a girl when faced with difficulties. However Sakuno was always an exception. Partially because of the fact that his voice which hadn't broke yet, resulting in him sounding like a girl most of the time. That his hair grew at an abnormal rate, which resulted in making him look somewhat feminine at times. His cowardice character also helped in giving him the ability to sound and act like a damsel in distress at any time.

Because of these reasons, it was hard to take him seriously as a boy.

Ignoring his protest, she slung him over her shoulders and ascended the stairs and into the second floor, where all would begin.

The second floor of the tower was completely different from the first. The only similiarties both had were the eerie silence, the second floor proved to be vastly different from the first. The surroundings were not bright to say the least, it was dark. The air was stale, and it provided a bitter taste in their mouth. Blood was splattered all over the walls. No sound could be heard from the surroundings.

"Truly, the human phase 'some things never change apply here."

"That saying means that you've been here before."

"That is correct. Seven years ago, I watched over a young man as he ascended the tower. Now it seems our roles have been reversed." She let out a laugh at the irony of the situation.

He looked up at her for a second before looking away, muttering something about adults being strange.

Off course Elizabeth was a woman who couldn't care less about his feelings or ideas. Not that she cared what anyone else thought about her in the first place. After all, she was a woman with a near 180 degree difference when it came to common sense and taste from anyone else.

Faced with a dangerous situation, she would laugh while others fled. Face with a simple problem and she would either freeze up or perform outrageous actions while others solved it with simple solutions.

To call her strange was correct, and she was proud of that fact that she was one of a kind.

"Hey! How do we get out of here? The stairs are gone."

Ever since they made their way into the second floor, he wouldn't stop hiding behind her back. The reason was because he couldn't run even if he wanted too. The stairs leading up had disappeared, leaving him alone with her.

"If memory serves correctly, there are teleportation devices stationed within the tower. Anytime we wish to leave, we can simply access them."

"Anything else I should know?"

"Yes, the layout of the tower changes by itself, so always remember that even though at times if you ever explore the same floor, the mapping will be different."

He sighed out in frustration, but never coming out from behind her.

"Today, we're going to explore the first floor only. It would serve as a good experience for you."

Without turning around at all, she reached back and pulled him forward by his collar of the shirt. She was going to force him to take the lead even if he didn't want to.

"Will it help if I said no?"

"No, it won't. If you still refuse to move, I move you myself."

"I was afraid of that."

True to her word, since he was reluctant to move, she had to drag him along as well. If anything, the two now looked like a big sister dragging her younger sibling alongside her. The situation would have been hilarious had the setting not be in a dark eerie tower flooded with monsters.

Despite his age, Sakuno was actually a lot smarter than most people. He stopped struggling the moment he stepped onto the second floor, because he could feel the presence of many others besides himself and his teacher on that specific floor. Any noise he made could easily attract the attention of unwanted beings.

"Interesting. I sense a shadow from around the corner. That is good, it shall be your first opponent."

"Wait! Wait!" He forgot the importance of silence just after hearing those words.

"Why look. That shadow on top of you would serve as a good starter."

"Arrgh!"

He tripped over his own feet as a black sludge dropped from the ceiling.

The figure landed on the ground in front of him. However the figure easily reformed itself. The impact of landing had no effect on it. As it reformed itself, Sakuno observed it's characteristics. A body as dark as the night. It's body moved like gelatin. Its face was concealed by a blue mask. Its hands wavered about like rubber.

"Wha—what is that?"

Elizabeth was surprised for a second but only for a second. "Oh yes, I believe that this is the first time you are seeing a shadow. The one standing in front of you is called a maya. A cowardly maya to be exact. My observations tell me that it is the very weakest of all the shadows. It is perfect for your first opponent."

He stepped back.

"I would suggest you to be careful. Despite being the weakest shadow there is, it is still vastly stronger compared to most humans. It also possesses great danger whenever they group together."

She grabbed his shoulder.

"What—what are we going to do?"

He didn't feel very afraid. If anything, he was actually calmer than he been a moment ago despite seeing a potential threat in front of him.

"Not me. The one who will settle this is you and you alone."

He glanced back and forth between her and the shadow. All the while raising his evoker without realizing it.

"Go on."

She whispered into his ears. Her voice was like a drug. He couldn't resist it. Despite how crazy her words were, he had to obey it.

Unlike before, there were no signs of hesitation in him now. Before he even realized it, the gun was pointed at the side of his head.

"That's right. Just like that."

Neither paid attention to the shadow. It had closed the gap in plain sight. It's arms were raised, it's shadowy like hands fluttered about. Neither one appeared to noticed it ready to strike.

*Ching*

An erruption of raw power blasted the shadow away.

It quickly reformed itself regardless. What it saw when it had reformed itself easily paralyzed it.

Standing in front of it was a vortex of raw power. The power eminating from it was enormous. It was no surprise the shadow was blown away by it.

But what stood out more than the vortex was most certainly the figure floating above it.

Bright and eluminating. It's presence alone had dispelled the darkness of the labryinth in an instant. With one flap of it's wings, hell was created.

Fire ran. The Maya let out a terrifying squeal of agony as it was incinerated into ashes. As the fire continued along it's path of destruction, cries of agony followed.

It was clear. Nothing could have survived it. This was no attack. This was a divine judgement.

Sakuno looked up. Clearly after evoking his persona, all senses had return to him.

A figure shrouded in golden flames glanced down at him. It's rainbow wings glowed with brightness of the sun. It's body shapped like a bird. It's tailfeathers were divided into many colours. He continued to stare at the majestic figure above him. There was no way for him to simply take his eyes off it.

"A...Phoenix..."

Without warning, the phoenix wrapped it's wings around it's body. That act alone had generated a sudden burst of wind. Immediately he covered his vision with his arm. A second later, everything died down.

The phoenix had left, and the darkness of the labrynith had returned.

Along with the darkness came a sudden sense of fatigue. Whatever strength he possessed a moment ago faded away without noticed. The child collasped onto his knees.

"Wha-what was that?"

"Your persona." Elizabeth simply replied. She assisted him in standing. "is what I like to say, but I won't."

"Why not?"

Though you were the one to pull the trigger, I was the one who had filled you with the additional spiritual force. The persona that was summoned was a result of me fueling your original persona with too much power. I assume that literally over 80% the power used belonged to me."

He glanced at the gun in his hands.

"Are you surprised? I may have granted you additional power, but the one to pull the trigger was you alone."

There was no lie within her words. Everything she said was truth. Sakuno could easily feel it. Despite it being the first time he had ever used his powers, he knew full well that there was no possible way for it to be so outrageously strong.

"By the way, how was the experience? I believe that was the first time you had successfully evoked your persona."

There was the sound of an object falling to the ground. It came from the evoker in his hands, or rather was in his hands. However Sakuno paid no attention to it.

"I-I-I-ac-actually-did that?"

He looked at his hands. He was unable to believe what he had just done. Even if he knew that he had been controlled somewhat by Elizabeth, the one to pull the trigger in the end was him alone.

"That's is correct."

She answered bluntly. It was as if she didn't have the slightest care in the world.

Sakuno's mind meanwhile was a mess. Yet despite that, he could not stop deny what his heart desire.

"The-the feeling...it-it was insane. I-I think I actually enjoyed it."

The surge of power was addicting. He did not deny that.

He picked up the evoker at his feet. He brought it to his temple once more. This time round, there was no hesitation. He closed his eyes.

Elizabeth smiled. She had expected this to happen. It was only human nature to crave power. Now that he had gotten a taste of power, it was no surprise that he would want more.

The sound of glass shattering echoed throughout the entire floor. Sakuno had expected the giant surge of power he experienced a moment ago to resurface, but what came out was different.

Instead of the divine overwhelming power he had called upon earlier, what came out was a far cry from it.

It was a woman with jet black flowing hair and ruby red eyes. She was dressed in feather black robes and pristine white gloves.

"_No!"_

He shook his head.

He knew what he had called upon. It was no phoenix, what he had called upon was a woman. While he could feel the power it wield, he knew that It held neither the majesty nor the divinity the phoenix had.

If anything, the presence this wielded was unholy.

"_I am __Hel__-  
_

"What?"

"—_she who presides over the dead. From thy sea of thy soul I come."_

Before he could even say something, the woman had literally faded into thin air.

"What was that?"

"I believe I mention earlier. The phoenix you summoned was mostly due to my powers. In order to break the psychological fear of shooting yourself did you had, I was forced to entice you into doing so. I merely decided to force in some extra spiritual power to increase the effect."

Off course he knew it. He knew that there was no way he could have so much power from the start. However he just couldn't get over the sudden addiction for the power that he experienced a moment ago.

*Clap*

Elizabeth brought him back to his senses by clapping her hands together.

"All right, I think that's about it. I was hoping to train you more today, but the unexpected appearance of the phoenix had removed all shadows on this floor. Regardless, you achieve the most important thing today, and that is the courage to summon your persona."

"So everything's all right?"

"That is correct. Tonight's session ended far earlier than I had imagined. There is no point to continue staying here."

A flash of sliver caught her attention.

She strolled passed her student and picked up what appeared to be a card. It was covered with ashes. She knew that it was a spoil of victory that was obtained from defeating the Maya shadow a moment ago.

"What's that?"

"I'll show you later. Now we must leave."

"Why?"

He felt no sense of danger in the slightest. Why should he? The shadows on the entire floor had been obliterated by him, or rather by Elizabeth. If there were no shadows left, there was no danger, or so he told himself.

The innocence and simple mind of a child could be a blessing or a curse at times.

"There is a monster here known as the Repear. It is a monster of incredible power. I could defeat it, but I cannot protect you at the same time. At your level, no doubt you will be killed in one single hit should you encounter it."

"But it's not here right?"

"For now..."

She was disturbed. Without warning she had grabbed him by his arm and started walking.

"The Repear is a monster that exists within Tartarus. It has the ability to appear on any floor at any random time. It is the main reason why one must never dwell in a spot, for otherwise it will appear and destroy you."

Whatever arguments he had, she ignored. She simply escorted or rather dragged him to what appeared to be a glowing circular device after much searching.

"Sakuno, take note, this is a teleportation device. If you ever wish to return to the entrance, simply step into it, and it will lead you back. Not every floor has a device mind you."

Without any warning, he was shoved into the light of the device. She soon followed afterwards.

Before they knew it, they were standing in the lobby of the tower once more.

"Truly, it is ashame."

Sakuno couldn't help but wonder what she meant by that.

"I was hoping that I would be able to teach you more today, but apparently I was mistaken."

As he was about to reply, his knees suddenly buckled and he collasped to the ground.

"Not to worry. A side effect of the dark hour. You become fatigue more easily as compared to normal. But have no fear, for you will soon adapt to it."

"So...am I free to go now?"

She noticed something about him now. Something very obvious. "You...have changed. Was your experience with power that awe-inspiring?"

There was some truth in her words. Unlike before, he no longer showed any signs of unease in the basement. She believed it was due to the experience of power earlier on that he now display greater confidence.

However...

"A word of advice if I may."

Clearly whatever she wanted to say was important.

"Never think your power is absolute. There will come many times where you will not be able to force your way through. Your predessors wielded power far beyond yours, but even they could not do everything."

"Off course they can't." He snorted. "No one has absolute power. I refuse to believe that. The only one who has absolute power alone is god and no one else."

Without waiting for a reply of any sort he had left through the entrance.

She simply watched as he walked away.

"That's where you are wrong. Even gods have limits off their own."

She pulled out the card she had picked up from the defeated shadow. The contents on it easily made her frown.

There were many other things she did not mention to him.

The most important of all was that a persona was but a facet of one's self. EVen if she had added in a huge amount of spiritual power to him, it was impossible to force a change in one.

"_You are most certainly no wild card. I knew that from the start when we first met. What are you?"_

* * *

**_Well I can't continue far into this story without any more OC's._**

**_So if anyone is reading it, please spare me a few, and I'll try to write a good story._**


	3. Chapter 2

**Okay this story is harder to write, because I don't have much to work with.**

**So if anything, this could be the very last chapter I'm writing.**

**So to ****Demons Anarchy of Pride and KO. Enjoy this chapter.**

**It could be the very last chapter.**

* * *

**April 13th 2018**

**Friday...**

* * *

"Damn it!

His mother hung up. She frowned in annoyance as smoke erupted from the oven in front of her.

*Cough*Cough*

"What is it Mom?"

Sakuno could probably imagine that the burning oven alone would tell anyone what was wrong. Nevertheless, he still asked the question for the sake of asking.

"It's the oven son. There's a malfunction, I can't seem to control the temperature."

"Again? Why can't we fix it?"

"The serviceman is coming later on. Until he comes, I won't be able to open the shop."

Inwardly he was happy. For a broken oven meant less work for him. He knew it was wrong to think that especially knowing that his family had financial issues, but he still did.

His mother scratched her cheek.

"Darn it. I guess we'll have to open till 10 in the night in order to make up for the time wasted."

"So...what do I do now?"

"You are free to move as you wish. Just come back in the afternoon to help with the business, and that will be enough."

"What about you? Are you coming along as well?"

She shook her head.

"No, I have to stay behind to receive the service man when he arrives."

He nodded in understanding. It wasn't like he disliked working in the café with his mother. If anything, he really loved it.

However no matter how much he enjoyed working there, he couldn't help but desire a little free time once in a while.

The family business was merely a simple café where people could drop by and have a simple meal or a drink. Business was far from booming. It earned them enough to pay the rent, but that was it. There was barely any extra left overs, it was the main reason why Sakuno was unable to head to school normally.

"Than…before I go, do you need any groceries or anything?"

"Not likely, but it would be nice if you could buy something back to eat."

Inwardly he sighed. On the outside he was passive.

He disliked buying things, especially food. It was mostly because neither he nor his mother had a lot of money, and he wanted to save it.

"All right. Any preferences?"

She closed her eyes.

"Mom? What are-"

*Shush*"

She interrupted him. He could tell from that action that she was thinking.

"Miyuki told me that she found a café nearby that sells cheap and good food. I was in the mood for ramen today. But I just can't seem to recall the name of that store."

He sighed again.

"Don't worry mom, I'll find it. Miyuki should be awake at this time. I'll give her a call and ask where it is."

"All right then. Just be careful."

He simply rolled his eyes as she bent down and kissed him in the forehead.

Though he rolled his eyes, a smile graced his lips. He knew that his mother was annoying, but she was always thinking of him.

* * *

Meanwhile…

In the middle of a kitchen…

"No! That's wrong."

A young man with black hair wearing a chef's outfit gently shoved aside another chef as he took over his duties.

His hair was sliver around the scalp, but strangely enough, his bangs were coloured black. His eyes consisted of one blue and one red.

"Cutting is important. If the meat isn't cut well, it wouldn't be able to be cook properly."

He lectured several of the other chefs in training there. He spoke professionally. Despite his young appearance, he clearly carried the air of a professional.

He placed a slab of beef onto a cutting board and started cutting.

Everyone stared at him with great fascination. His hands were as stable as any machine out there, cutting the large slab of beef with supernatural ease. Each piece were evenly divided. The precision was so clear, it was frightening in a sense.

No one questioned his abilities. The way he handled himself, there was no way one would do so. The chef giving them a demonstration was simply far beyond their level. But he was not arrogant or boastful of it.

It spoke volumes of his desire to help everyone, but above all else, it spoke of his passion for cooking.

This man's name was Seichi Hakurata.

Rising star in the cooking world, and the youngest chef ever to work in the most prestigious restaurant ever. The Shogun's palace.

* * *

"Thanks for coming with me Miyuki. I could use the company."

She giggled. It was a sign saying that she found him cute.

Sakuno knew that she was always somewhat clingy to him since the beginning, but he always wrote that off as her way of expressing friendship with him.

Off course, he didn't tell her that the main reason why he also invited her was because he didn't like the idea of climbing up a hill just to reach the Naginaki Shrine.

Apparently they thought that it was a good idea to build a small restaurant over there as it was it a good tourist attraction.

Sakuno had to agree with that.

But that didn't change the fact that he didn't like the climbing the hill part.

"You are lucky, that you live nearby."

He pouted as he took another step up on the long flight of stairs.

The two of them began ascending towards the top of the hill five minutes ago, and it would take another three minutes before they reached the top.

"I still wish they could do something about these stairs. It would be backbreaking if I had to walk up them every day."

"It can't be helped. You know full well neither of us has the money to take the train right?"

Public transport. Another one of the things he disliked. With the exception of the bus, all other forms of transport were usually too much for his liking.

All the while as they were walking, Sakuno never noticed his companion stealing glances at him.

"Hey—Umm…"

"What is it?" He turned to face her. The two continued walking while chatting.

"Are—are you all right? Recently you look kind of disturbing."

He remained silent for a moment.

"If—if you don't want to talk about it, that's all right."

He shook his head.

"Miyuki, I don't think you would believe me even if I told you."

"Try me."

He smiled at the challenge.

"All right than, what if I began by saying that there was actually more than 24 hours a day? Would you believe me?"

She placed a finger under her chin and looked up the sky.

"Hmm…well I'm not that knowledgeable about other countries and the time zone, but I don't think there's anything past a 24 hour mark."

That was the same answer he came up with when Elizabeth had asked him of that.

"Than what if I said that there was actually a 25th hour. Would you believe me?"

She shook her head.

"Obviously not. I mean—oh there it is!"

The two of them had been so engrossed in their conversation that they lost track of their surroundings. Before they even realized it, they had already cleared the stairs.

* * *

She sighed in weariness.

Seven years had already passed. Though time did not exist in where she sat at the moment.

Inwardly, it felt like an eternity since she had last returned.

"Elizabeth. It certainly has been a while has it not?"

Sitting in front of her was an elderly man.

Yet he was not like many others, for he had the appearance of a demon-like old man. His nose was outrageously long. His eyes bulgingly large and were bloodshot. His choice of clothing was a black suit along with white gloves.

"I…have return master Igor."

The old man sitting in front of her simply stared at her. It wasn't after several moments did he make a move.

All the while she sat nervously in front of him.

The two of them were sitting in an elevator that was descending downwards. To what end no one knows.

The depth seemed endless, as if there was no end to the journey.

"Six years in the human world is it not? The last time we received word of you was during the tournament master Seta informed me off."

The velvet room. It is a room that exists outside of time and space. A room that takes the form of the user's heart. It is the home to denizens of unimaginable power.

Denizens like Elizabeth.

"Master, the reason I—"

He raised a hand to cut her off.

"Yes I know. You need guidance."

He sighs. This is not the sigh of one who is disturbed, it is the sigh of a one who is worried for the sake of others.

"Elizabeth. It has been over seven years since his death, you must learn to let go."

In turn she sighed at his request.

"I…cannot master. Not after seeing him recently."

The only response he displayed was the widening of his already bulging eyes.

"Explain."

A sorrowful smile graced her lips. It was as if she was recalling something memorable. Something good and bad at the same time.

"During the tournament, I met with him…or perhaps it would be better to say…I met with his soul within the vastness of space."

He opened his mouth to say something, but she cut him off. She knew what she was saying was outrageous. Dead people can't return to life after all.

"With the help of Souji-san, I was able to see him one last time."

She chuckled. It was a one of sorrow and not of good will. Recalling the memory was particularly painful.

"It was my first time in space. I must admit, it was very surprising."

"What did he say?"

She shook her head. Closing her eyes she faced down. Her eyes no longer being able to be seen as it was covered by her bangs.

"He…told me to give up. He said he had made his choice, he wanted me to accept that."

"What did you say?"

"I told him I wasn't going to give up. I told him that he was not the only one who could make decisions."

A single teardrop landed on the ground. She lifted her head high and wiped the tears that were threatening to let loose. A sad smile graced her lips as she stood up.

"Before I was pulled away, he smiled at me. He said if that was my answer, than he shall continue to wait until the day we meet again."

Now it was Igor's turn to laugh.

"So he said that did he? Most surprising, truly most surprising."

His mood had changed completely. Even with all his power, the idea of bringing a dead person back to life was sheer impossibility.

Yet he knew that Elizabeth was no liar.

That only meant that she really did travel to the ends of the universe to speak with him.

"Truly, out of all the guests that has ever graced the presence of the velvet room, never has there been one anywhere near as interesting as him."

*Ah—hem*

Elizabeth cleared her throat. She interrupted the old man's laughter. Much as she enjoyed being with him again, she couldn't afford to let herself be distracted at a time like this.

"Master, I returned here mainly to seek your advice."

"What is it?"

All traces of humour were gone instantly.

Her only response was the act of passing a card to him.

* * *

"Tori Teriyaki Ramen please!"

"Give me a Katsu curry ramen please!"

The two of them sat side by side each other at a table facing the kitchen. Apparently it was still morning, and they were the first customers.

"Coming right up."

As soon as the waiter was gone, Miyuki resumed the topic.

"By the way, why are you so fixated on this dark hour thing?"

He rolled his eyes.

What was the point of telling the dark hour to someone who clearly doesn't believe it?

"Humor me. Maybe you just don't want to admit some of the real problems you have. I can understand that if you to use a fantasty theme to explain it."

He let out another sigh.

There was no convincing her of anything.

"Anyway, you said something about a hidden twenty fifth hour right? Something about the world freezing in place and everything turns green and eerie?"

"Right...and everyone than turns into coffins at night."

Off course even she didn't believe him, he could still talk about it. Letting the stress of the dark hour out could be a good idea.

"And then afterwards that would be some huge tower called Tartarus appearing in place of Gekoukan high."

Without saying anything, her expression darken.

When no smart remark came up, he noticed something was odd.

"What's wrong? You aren't giving a smart remark like always."

Miyuki always had a nasty habit of shooting her mouth at everything people said to her. She often didn't even let him finish speaking and always cut him off, especially when it came to supernatural events.

"You know…I remember 7 years ago my dad caught apathy syndrome."

His eyes widen in surprise to her answer.

"My dad for a while was insane. He kept sprouting nonsense about this huge eerily green tower that appeared out of nowhere."

This was news to him. Though he was aware of the real existence of the tower and the dark hour, he heard nothing of this.

"He claimed that he had black blood that actually seemed out of his eyes and nose along with everyone else that saw that tower. For a while afterwards, my dad was deemed mentally unstable and had to be sent to the mental institution for a while."

"So how is he now?"

She sighs. The topic was clearly very sensitive to her.

"He's back now in society, but recently he's been on edge."

"On edge?"

He knew Miyuki's father personally. He was a strong willed person. Too strong at times. He knew that almost nothing could bother him.

Even when having financial issues, he was a lot more calm as compared to his mother.

"He keeps saying that's happening again."

"Again?"

From that word alone, he could tell that indeed something big had happened before. But seven years ago he was only 3 years old. He remembered literally nothing about that time.

"He said this was just like seven years ago. You know, back when this apathy syndrome began?"

Seven years ago. He thought he should probably try to learn more about that time period. Elizabeth clearly knew a lot more, but for some reason she just wasn't giving him any answers.

"Say you think—"

*Clong*

The impact of two bowls landing on the table interrupted their conversation.

"Here you go. One Tori Teriyaki and one Katsu curry ramen."

The two kids looked up and immediately felt their jaws drop.

* * *

"So you claim that this card was dropped by a shadow? Most interesting...and disturbing."

"That is correct master. I do not understand what it means."

The old man was wise and experienced. There were many things he understood but never said.

This time however, he truly was clueless.

He shook his head.

"I am truly sorry Elizabeth. Even I do not fully comprehend the meaning of this. In fact, never has there been any cases of shadows appearing on cards before."

Others may not have known about it, but shadows ocassionally drop cards whenever they were defeated.

But they only drop cads that contain personas, or cards of the tarot deck.

This was without a doubt the first time they had ever seen something like this before.

Faced with a new problem they had never seen before, neither one knew what to do.

Elizabeth knew that this journey while similar to the one she observed before, also had many differences in it's own right.

If she wanted to complete this journey, she would need knowledge from other sources. Her former master was unable to help, that just left one option.

"Master, if you are unable to help, perhaps he could?"

"No!"

For the first time since her arrival, he had raised his voice for a strong objection.

"Never! We denizens of the Velvet room must never touch his belongings. Furthermore, no one has seen or heard from master Philmon for a long period of time. Not since the time of Master Tatsuya has anyone seen him."

The moment he raised his voice, she knew that this argument was pointless, there was no way to convince him to change his mind.

"Very well then. I see there is no longer a reason for me to stay than."

She stood up and turned around. She saw no reason to stay.

"Wait!"

She stopped just as she was about to open the door.

"Elizabeth…"

Igor called her.

She turned around to spare him one last glance.

"Take note. No event can ever be the same in the world. There are only similarities."

It was just like her master to be cryptic, but living him for a long time, she had already gotten used to it.

The meaning behind his words was simple enough.

* * *

"Something wrong?"

Seichi Hakurata, despite the fact he was mainly a chef, occasionally he would play the part of a waiter as well.

Today however he was taking it easy.

"No! Nothing's wrong! In fact the food's really good!"

That was very true. The food that was served wasn't just good, it was excellent.

However…

It was difficult to eat, not when the said person standing in front of them was Seichi Hakurata.

Rising star in the cooking world, and one of the main chefs off the biggest and most successful restaurant in Japan.

There was a heavy pressure in eating something in front of someone like him.

"Hmm…I can't seem to figure it out."

Or so Miyuki felt that way.

Sakuno sitting next to her was having an easier time. He knew who was sitting in front of them, but he didn't care.

Let it be known that he took his food very seriously.

Since young, Sakuno had always been involving with food. Since to him and his mother, cooking was literally a matter of life and death.

If their café couldn't earn enough, they'll have to be declared bankrupt, and they weren't sure if they could survive if that happen.

So Sakuno took it upon himself to try and learn as much about food as possible in order to help with the business.

Miyuki was having fidgeting about. She had something she was dying to know.

"Umm…Mister Hakurata. You—you are Seichi Hakurata right? The youngest chef there is in the Shogun's Retreat right?"

A perfectly logical question.

Seichi Hakurata was widely known far and wide by many who aspire to be chefs. The thought of him working in a small eatery was crazy.

However…

"That is correct."

It seems the world can be crazy at times.

"It—it is you. But—but I thought you were working at the Shogun's Retreat, so what are you doing here?"

He gave a hearty laugh.

"Oh that?"

He couldn't help but be amused by the question. He waved his hand lazily as if telling her that she was mistaken.

"I don't really work here. You see, the owner of this eatery is a friend of my boss. Seeing that he just recently set up work here along with several new chefs, I was asked as a favour to teach them several tricks and tips about cooking."

"Then why are you serving the food? Shouldn't there be a waiter or so?"

He smiled at her question.

"The said waiter had to run a sudden errand, and so I decided to take his place a moment."

Miyuki however still had another question.

"Then…what about—"

"EUREKA!"

Sakuno suddenly shouted out as he stood up suddenly. In the process he nearly knocked over his chair. He faced his childhood friend to the side. His expression was ecstatic.

Miyuki's face paled. She knew what was coming next.

"Pumpkin! The secret to the curry is pumpkin!"

He declared something like that so openly. Miyuki knew it was a bad habit of his. While she was glad that he had a talent and skill in detecting many secret ingredients whenever it came to food, she could only wish that he stopped shouting them out so openly whenever he did.

And today was especially bad.

Because publicly revealing one's ingredient so would be a challenge or an insult to another chef.

And today, he had done it in front of one the very best chefs in the nation.

"_Sakuno, I hope you have life insurance."_

She silently feared that he wouldn't do anything drastic to punish her insolent childhood friend.

However…

"Hahaha…well done, very well done."

Instead of taking offense, the said person was actually delighted?

He was not only surprise, but also delighted. He even clapped his hands as if congratulating him.

Sakuno too was also caught off guard by his reaction.

"You—you are actually happy?" He couldn't help but be amazed.

"Off course."

Seichi Hakurata was truly happy. "I've been watching the way you eat my food, and I can tell that you enjoy it. Even more surprising was the fact that you not only tried to fully understand and embrace the flavour of it, but were also able to discern the secret ingredient used for the curry."

He was flattered and somewhat embarrassed to receive praise from someone like the great Seichi Hakurata himself.

"Too bad even if I could discern the ingredient, I don't have the ability to mould the noodles or cook the curry as well as others can."

Seichi pat him on the shoulder. A large smile was plastered on his face.

"Don't worry, keep at it. I started out at around your age as a chef. It took me over 6 years to reach where I am now. If you truly train hard, you might be able to reach my level faster than you think."

The young boy only proceeded to scratch his head. He was getting more embarrassed by the second.

Miyuki seeing a moment of vulnerability decided to strike.

"Wow, if the great Seichi Hakurata actually says that, you might actually have a chance of making your family's café a huge hit."

At that, Seichi's expression took up one of surprise.

"A café?"

Immediately Miyuki realized that she said something that she shouldn't had.

After all, Sakuno had already dissected a secret ingredient of one of his many dishes, and now armed with the knowledge that it could be used to help another group, no matter how small was infuriating.

"Ah—no, I didn't—"

"It's called Café Esperanza. It's near the base of the shrine."

Sakuno simply cut her off. Miyuki cursed his stupidity.

To her surprise again, Seichi merely chuckled.

"I heard of that place. It was actually quite well noted for having simple dishes and desserts."

"Too bad business is bad."

Sakuno sighed. There was no signs of the joyfulness he had a moment ago when he was praised. He took his family's business quite seriously despite his age.

"WHOA!"

A loud sudden cry from the kitchen startled them. Miyuki nearly fell out of her chair when she heard the cry.

Immediately afterwards, a large man ran out from the kitchen.

"Seichi-san! I think we may have made the temperature a bit too high and the noodles are boiling over. Do you think you could see if we're doing it right?"

Seichi simply sighed. But on his expression was a smile.

Despite the mistakes the chefs made, there was little doubt that they took their cooking very seriously.

"All right, just give me a second."

After replying to him, he turned to face the two children. He reached into his pocket and pulled out what appeared to be cards. He handed each of them a card.

"This is an invitation to the Shogun's Retreat at the mall. That brunch is where I'm stationed at the moment. Drop by once in a while. I'll be glad to teach you more about cooking than."

As he was about to return to the kitchen, Sakuno suddenly raised his hand.

"Wait! As a fellow chef, aren't you angry I blabbered out the secret ingredient, and that I might actually use it in the family business?"

Seichi in turn pat him on the head.

"Why should I?"

The tone he used told him that he didn't care about something like that.

"I just love to cook. I've never really paid attention to details like that. For me, the most important thing is knowing that the food I prepare will make people happy. Everything else is secondary."

Hard to believe, but completely true.

Seichi Hakurata was not one to bother with details like that. If people wanted to eat, he as a chef will provide for them. It was just that simple.

He pat Sakuno on the head once more before turning away.

"Anyway, it's good to see someone with a passion for cooking as large as mine. I look forward to seeing you in the future again."

With those words said, he returned back to the kitchen.

Sakuno couldn't help but admire that respective spirit of his.

Glass cracked.

Not physically. But inwardly.

In his mind, he heard the sound glass cracking.

** Thou art I and I art thou**

** Thou have stepped onto the road of the stars. **

** Thou shall have thy blessings when evoking personas of the star arcana.**

"_Star Social link level 1."_

"Wha—what was that?"

He had clearly heard the voice within his mind, but he had no idea what they meant.

His childhood friend couldn't help but be noticed his confused expression.

"Is something wrong?"

He shook his head.

"It's nothing. Come on, let's finish eating."

* * *

Sakuno felt his eyes twitching.

Elizabeth was smirking.

Off all the people that he had wanted to see in his home, she was the last person.

"Something wrong Sakuno?"

Though she asked the question with a sweet tone, Sakuno couldn't help but feel that she was messing with him.

"Just asking, what are you doing here?"

"What a silly question. I came here to sample the delicacies that your café offers."

Sakuno sighed as he took a seat.

Currently, it was nearly ten in the night. It was almost closing time.

Sakuno had just finished night class not too long ago. It hadn't been over ten minutes when he got back did his teacher Elizabeth appear.

She strolled in as a customer and order practically nearly every dish there was.

His mother normally wanted to reject a customer especially near closing time, had a change of heart when she suddenly heard the order of one of everything.

With his mother in the kitchen, and no other customers about, Sakuno was free to do as he please.

"Don't mess with me! Tell me the reason you are really here for!"

Her smile never faded.

"Like I said, I'm really here to sample the delicacies your café has to offer, and…"

"I knew it." He sighed. He knew that she had an ulterior motive.

She pulled out a bookmark from the compendium she always carried around with her and passed it to him.

"Take a look at this."

He looked at the card and was surprise. But that was about it. "This—this is a card of the Maya I defeated right?"

She nodded in confirmation.

"Correct. That alone is the strange part."

"What's so strange about that?"

For Sakuno, that question was very reasonable.

For Elizabeth, the presence of the card alone was very strange.

She cleared her throat. "Since the beginning of persona users, never before has there been anyone who was able to collect cards of shadows. The only cards that could be collected were cards of the tarot, or cards that held persona's. And even more so, the cards could only be collected by wild cards alone."

"Wild cards?" He tilt his head to the side. He didn't know what they were.

"Wild cards are special persona users. Even though they have been many persona users in the past, only very selected few have the power of the wild card. The number of wild cards that have appeared so far, can easily be counted with your fingers."

He didn't know what they were, but from what she said, he concluded they were special persona users with great power.

"What power does the wild card have?"

"Wild card users have 3 specific abilities that separate them from normal persona users."

She raised her hand and lifted one finger.

"The first is the ability to interchange between many different persona's."

She lifted another finger.

"The second is the ability to harvest powers in the form of cards. Like I mention earlier, these cards take the form of tarot or persona's that only they can harvest."

She lifted the third finger, making a three.

"The last is the ability of social links. Wild card users have the ability to bond with others. They then turn the bonds they share into power."

But Sakuno wasn't listening fully to the last part. He was reminded of what happened in the morning.

Elizabeth noticed his attention fading by the second. She flicked him over his forehead and brought him back to reality.

"Is something bothering you?"

He thought about it for a second before he opened his mouth.

"Actually, when you said social links, I thought I needed to show you something."

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a card.

Elizabeth took it from him, and what she saw made her confuse.

"Who may I ask is this? And where did you get this card?"

On the card was the image of a boy she had never seen before.

"His name is Seichi Hakurata. He is a famous chef. I met him today along with Miyuki in the morning. Apparently we kind of hit it off, and shortly after he left, I heard a voice in my head."

Had he been paying attention, he would have noticed her smile slowing turning into a frown.

"What did the voice say?"

"It—it something like…'Thou art I and I art thou. Thou has stepped onto the road of the stars. Thou shall have our blessings when evoking the power of the stars.' Or something like that."

"Anything else?"

He clapped his hands together as he remembered the most important part.

"Oh yeah! Afterwards, there was another voice that said…'the star social link has reached level 1.' or something like that."

Things were getting stranger by the second,

Many things that went against what she knew just kept appearing, the strangest was definitely the sudden emergence of his social links.

From what she knew, Sakuno was no wild card, it shouldn't have been possible for him to obtain social links in the first place.

Events from the past were reoccurring, but many factors were different. Elizabeth was growing more confused with every day.

There was only one thing to do.

"Later, we head to Tartarus, no questions."

He groaned. He should have kept his mouth shut.

"Foods here!"

His mother suddenly dropped a large platter of food capable of feeding a dozen people in front of her.

Elizabeth's frown turned back into a smile and she picked up her utensils.

"But first, time to eat."

Sakuno made a mental note to never treat girls to a meal.

* * *

"My, that was certainly a meal I will remember for a long time."

Sakuno never thought it was possible that the woman with the black hole for a stomach could ever be full.

Turns out, he was almost proven wrong.

His mother came close to filling her stomach.

The only thing she couldn't fill up was the desert part.

She had apparently spent nearly two hours eating out at his mother's café. By the time she was done, it was nearly midnight.

Sakuno thought that the bright side was that he wasn't going to have to wait for Elizabeth in front of the tower.

Still there was one good thing that came out of all this. That was the joy his mother got out of having a customer like Elizabeth come.

He was sure that if she had more customers like her, she would never have to worry about bankruptcy.

"Okay…so what do we do now?"

"Now? Now we return to Tartarus. There is much to be done." She glanced upwards the sky. She raised a finger and pointed at the moon. "I plan to teach you enough to survive before the full moon."

"Full moon? Why? Is something going to happen on the full moon?"

She shook her head.

"In the past, whenever there was a full moon, a powerful shadow would appear. Full moon shadows they are called. Like their names suggested. They were shadows that only appeared during the times of the full moon."

Sakuno kept track of the dates. He knew that there was a week left before the full moon.

"Today...what are we going to do exactly?"

"Today we are going to-"

She spun around. Her words were cut off suddenly, Sakuno knew something was wrong, but he couldn't tell exactly what it was.

"What is it?"

She didn't say anything. She simply walked off in a direction opposite to that of the tower.

He followed her.

* * *

*Boom*

A single sports car was blown to bits in an instant.

Yet through the burning flames a figure easily stood up. It was large imposing figure easily three meters tall. It's body bulk was humanoid, but the mass of it would easily make anyone reconsider their decision in calling it human.

It's chest was coated with inhumanely huge muscles harder than steel itself, it's arms were like rocks, and with every step it took, the earth shook.

It's opponent was crouching down on fours in front of him. A humongous and vicious, gargantuan black dog with three heads and black eyes stared it in the eyes. It's black fur was shivered with the wind.

It's name was Cerberus, the watch dog of the underworld.

The humanoid figure however ignored the beast and focused on what was behind it.

A young boy with somewhat covered black shaggy hair glared back at it. His choice of clothing includes a navy blue hoodie that covered a large part of his hair. That specific piece of clothing was unzipped partially to reveal v-red neck shirt T-shirt. Going alongside all his clothing's was long faded jeans.

His green eyes staring down his opponent. In his hand was a gun. It held no barrel, nor did it hold any bullets. It's role wasn't to be used as a lethal weapon.

It was after all...an evoker.

The giant let out a terrifying roar as it made the first move. It leapt forward towards the boy, but the the three headed dog had intercepted it's attack. It leapt up at the same time and smashed all three of it's head into it's chest. The impact knocked the giant down.

Instinctivly as it hit the ground, it threw it's elbow up and slammed into the side of the dogs right head. It took the chance to throw it off.

However Cerberus was not going to let up, as soon as it was knocked off, it immediately recovered faster than the shadow humanoid giant did and tackled it as it was getting up.

The shadow giant unable to stand in time, was hit by it's full force impact and rolled over with the beast managing to get on top of him.

*Snap*Snap*

With the shadow pinned to the ground, all three heads of Cerberus attempted to rip it's head out. Yet two of it's mouths were easily restrained by the shadow's powerful arms. Only it's middle head was able to move.

It thrust's head downwards once.

It missed. The shadow twisted it's neck to the side and avoided the killing blow.

It pulled it's centre head back once more.

However a sharp kick to it's body easily sent it flying off him. The shadow simply got back on it's feet without a problem.

The guard dog of the underworld recovered as well. All three of it's head growling at the shadow, but it clearly was not fazed in the slightest.

Without any warning, all three mouths were open, and a stream of fire was unleashed.

Any normal human would easily be devoured by the flames.

But...

The shadow was no human. It easily protected itself by wrapping it's own arms around its own body as it was bathed in flames.

While it was covering itself, it slowly took a step forth.

The beast senses the danger, and increases the intensity of the flames it breaths out.

Yet it doesn't stop the shadow. It merely slows it down.

With every passing second, the shadow closes the gap.

*Wham*

A sudden lunge and the gap is gone. Two hands reached forth and thrusts into the right and left mouth, easily shutting them up.

Realizing that it was furtile to assume the firey assualt. The central head lunged forth as the shadow's arms were wrestling with it's counterparts.

It snapped repeatedly at the target's head. But each attack was avoided.

With a powerful shove the shadow easily threw the three headed dog to the side. It was clear that it was superior in a contest of raw power.

Though the beast was down, it was not out.

Yet that was all the shadow needed. It's purpose from the start was never victory over the beast.

It glanced towards the young child who was clutching onto left arm as if broken. His breath was ragged and sweat dropped all over his face.

A moment ago he was fine, but now he was tired and injured.

The reason was simple.

Cerberus.

His persona had been damaged. As a persona is but a part of a person, any damage it receives will be transferred back to it's master.

The child took a step back. He was wounded. Not that it made any difference even if he wasn't. The shadow could easily outrun even the greatest of runners easily.

He glanced to the side where Cerberus was getting back to it's feet. Recovering it was, but it would never make it back in time to protect him.

With a powerful lunge, the shadow made it's way to him.

He stumbled on his on feet and fell onto his back. He closed his eyes waiting for the end to come.

"-Hel!"

Instead of feeling a crushing impact over him. What he felt was a strong blast of wind from behind instead, followed by the sound of wall breaking.

When death didn't come to him, he opened his eyes.

* * *

"Hey you all right?"

Sakuno somehow managed to retain enough of a calm composure when he found someone other than himself or Elizabeth not under the influence of the dark hour.

In a despreate attempt to save the boy, he had summoned his persona without any hesitation and had her kicked the shadow through a wall.

"Hel! Spare him some assistance!"

The woman nodded in understanding. She spreaded her arms out, and executed a graceful spin.

A wave of light spreaded over the boy and his persona.

Sakuno noticed that after being bath within the light, his breathing calmed and he seemed to have recover. He offered a hand towards the downed boy.

The moment the master was lifted back to his feet, so did his persona recover.

"I suggest you speak later. It would appear your friend would like to have a word."

Trust Elizabeth to point out the negative.

In the nick of time, did Hel managed to leap out of the way as the shadow charged through a wall and attempted to tackle her.

Sakuno saw the condition of the shadow, and immediately realized something. He turned to Elizabeth. "I don't think we can win it. I think we better run."

She smiled at his statement. For a child his age, he was far more observant than he was given credit for. However that alone wouldn't be enough in this situation. She wouldn't let him run, she wanted him to push himself.

"I wouldn't advise you to try. The enemy in front of you is a Gigas. It is a powerhouse shadow of great physical abilities. If you try to run, it will easily catch up to you."

Scratch that idea. Elizabeth really knew how to dampen a person's mood.

"Any suggestions? Hel kicked him through a series of walls and it just gets up without a single scratch. "

"Gigas are usually strong towards physical attacks, and a specific elemental weakness. That said, it is not impossible to kill them with physical attacks. Like humans, it's head is a lot more vulnerable compared to mostly every part of its body."

Sakuno fidgeted. He knew he was in more trouble than he previously thought.

The reason being he knew that he no way to exploit that weakness. He had seen earlier on that from the boy's persona that fire was not the specific element he was looking for.

And fire was the only element he could command apart from darkness.

Darkness was most likely out of the question. Powerful and deadly as it was, the chances of it successfully hitting anyone is very low. It was too unreliable to count on it.

He looked to his teacher for assistance.

"Why don't you lend us a hand? With your powers, this should be easy."

She shrugged. "I used up too much power yesterday. The power I have left is little to summon anything decent."

That was lie. She could still summon powerful personas, but he didn't need to know it.

"Ah…I think we're screwed."

For a moment even Elizabeth thought that he was seriously thinking that. But she quickly dismissed that thought. Nevertheless, if he died, he died. That was all there was too it.

She didn't interfere directly before in the last journey, and she didn't plan on doing so now.

It was only due to circumstances that she felt obliged to assist him. But even then, that assistance would be limited to a bare minimal.

"I feel I should mention that it's about to attack again."

Realizing that it's attack had missed. The Gigas roared again. It turned around and ran towards his persona.

"Out of the way Hel!"

Continuously she jumped back, trying to gain distance from the powerful shadow assualting her.

Each swing was narrowly avoided. He knew one direct hit would spell disaster.

One swing, two swings, three swings.

Each and every attack was dodged by a narrow margin. Yet, one thing was made clearer every time she dodged the attack.

"The shadow's getting faster..."

It was an observation made. Every time the shadow made an attack, it came closer and closer to hitting her.

"...RRRAOUG..."

It stopped pursuing Sakuno's persona for a brief moment. Clearly it was growing more frustrated with every moment. Had it not been consumed with rage, he might have actually caught her.

He grabbed what appeared to be a car with both hands and lifted it up over his head.

Even a kid knew what was coming next.

Immediately he willed his persona to avoid it.

A simple attack like that was easily avoided. For Hel following her master's command easily leapt over the attack.

Only for the gigas to slam it's hand into her face in mid air.

Her eyes widen in shock as she tried to wrestle his hold over her, but to no avail. He was simply far stronger than she was.

Like a comet, she slammed into the ground with the Gigas on top of her.

"Augh!" Sakuno almost fell to his knees as the feedback was sent back to him.

Immediately he will his persona to return, but being pinned to the ground by a gigas prevented her from doing so.

As the giant raised his other hand, he closed his eyes and braced himself for the pain.

"Yeow!"

He cried out as he felt something suddenly crushing his chest.

THe reason for that was that the three headed dog that had been standing by suddenly decided to make it's move.

It had pounced onto the back of the Gigas, and that in turn added to the weight his persona was being crushed under.

Before he could even attempt to throw it off, it's head had been ripped off.

The body of the said shadow disappeared into a black puddle shortly afterwards.

The danger had passed, the shadow was dead.

Sakuno immediately threw himself on the road. He was quite tired actually, that and he was suffering from a headache.

His persona fading away just seconds afterwards.

"You know, wouldn't it be easier if you just speak?"

After defeating the shadow, both Sakuno and Elizabeth took the time to inquire about the young boy.

Apparently Elizabeth had been wrong. There were others out there who held the power of persona, she just never noticed them.

_'I rather not'_

The boy wrote down on a notepad.

It was too difficult to identify what he was saying. Mostly because he refused to speak and instead tried to communicate with gestures. There were however many words he did not understand. Elizabeth thought it was taking to long to guess his words, and decided to give him a notepad.

Where she kept it however no one knew.

"Than, could you tell us who you are?"

_"__Shino Tarakagi"_

That was the name of the boy. There were many things that both of them wanted to know, but they decided to ask the important things first.

"Hey Shino, how long have you been aware of the dark hour?"

_"Since one week ago."_

"Might I inquire, how did you come to know about the evoker, and more importantly, personas?"

He shook his head before writing down something on the notepad that was given to him.

_"I don't remember I'm sorry. I only remember a man giving it to me, but I can't seem to remember any details of it."_

"Nothing? Really?"

Sakuno was doubtful of that.

Shino never replied. Elizabeth however didn't let up.

"Surely you must recall something."

He shook his head again.

_"I'm sorry. There is only one thing I remember about the man who gave the evoker to me. Apparently he said that when the time comes, I'll meet others very similar to me."_

Clearly the part of similiarties was referring to other people with the power of persona.

"And your persona?"

He flipped over the page and continued to write.

_"If I remember clearly, he actually said something about testing out my potential first. I didn't know what he meant until he pulled the gun to my forehead and fired."_

Sakuno looked towards Elizabeth who in turn merely looked away whistling.

"My...doesn't that sound familiar?"

He clearly hasn't gotten over the part about where she enticed him into shooting himself in the head.

"By the way, there is one thing I must ask of you."

"Something wrong?"

"_What is it?"_

He wrote down on the notepad. Clearly his reluctance to talk was a bit annoying, as it made communication tedious and annoying.

"Shadows don't normally venture outside of Tartarus. In fact, one could say they would never venture out at all. Would you happen to know anything of the shadow that you were fighting a moment ago?"

"_Nothing at all."_

She closed her eyes and thought about things for a minute.

"Wait. Shadows don't venture outside the tower you say? Than how do people end up with Apathy Syndrome? You say that people get apathy syndrome because their minds were devoured by shadows."

A logical question. One that he always asked himself.

"In cases like those, you must consider the opposite. The shadows never left Tartarus. Instead, the people went to Tartarus."

"But don't they have to be awake during the dark hour for that to happen?"

She shook her head. "There are exceptions. In the past, there were many who for a myriad of reasons fell victim to the shadows influence. Many ended up sleepwalking their way into the tower. Or in some cases, they were haunted by powerful negative feelings that the shadows took advantage off to lure them into their home."

"So…shadows leaving the tower normally don't normally happen?"

"Not in accordance to my knowledge." She looked towards Shino after replying to his question. "Child, tell me, has there been any strange happenings around here recently?"

There was no reply from the child at all.

"Any information would be much appreciated. It does not have to be anything drastic."

The child thought about her request for a moment.

"Hey! I think I got something."

Surprisingly it was not Shino who had replied. It was Sakuno.

"Well it might not be a clue or anything, but recently I heard that there's been a series of breaking-ins. It was said that the only thing they had in common was that nothing was stolen, and the perpetrator's trail was simply untraceable. It was like every time the police tried to track it, it would just up and vanish into thin air like a ghost."

"_People don't vanish like ghosts."_

Shino wrote down in the notepad.

Off course the answer was obvious since it was a sheer impossibility. There was no possible to vanish like a ghost.

At least using scientific means alone. If science was impossible to be use to execute such a perfect crime, the answer was obvious.

It was done through supernatural means.

In order words…

"Shadows."

He nodded in confirmation. He turned to Shino.

"Say, has there been any strange happenings in your neighbourhood recently?"

The boy nodded as he started writing down things in the notepad once more.

"_Yes. There's been a string of break-ins recently, and the police haven't been able to find anything. However it was like you said. The ones breaking into other people's houses are shadows."_

That confirmed their suspicions.

"One final question Shino-san. Earlier on, I noticed that you a base understanding of utilizing your powers. May I inquire, was that truly your first battle?"

He shook his head.

"_It was my third battle actually, and my hardest. For the past two days, at around this time, there were other shadows that came to my house. I was able to repel them because of my power."_

Elizabeth decided not to inquire further. The dark hour was coming to an end. It would be tedious if anyone reported two missing children because of it.

"Sakuno, today I was planning on teaching you more about fighting, but I think I'll do so some other time instead. So, I suggest you return home, but before you do, please exchange numbers. I believe communication would be much easier that way."

He simply shrugged and complied with that.

The two of them exchanged numbers just like that.

"Sakuno, Shino-san. I will talk to you tomorrow. Apparently there is much I need to discuss with you. But for now, the dark hour will end soon. I do not think I can explain everything in 15 minutes or less."

"Okay got it."

Shino nodded in agreement.

Nothing more to say, she turned around and left. Sakuno decided to do the same as well.

He took a few steps before he suddenly felt something pulling him from behind. He turned around immediately.

"_Thank you."_

He was greeted with a large 'Thank you' sign written on the notepad.

Shino continued to write in it.

"_Thanks you very much for saving me today."_

Sakuno simply chuckled as he scratched his cheeks. "Don't mention it, besides you saved me as well."

He offered a handshake.

Sakuno thought about for a moment before deciding to accept it.

"Well…I'll see you tomorrow than."

Shino nodded in agreement.

When his new found comrade had left, he heard glass crack once more.

** Thou art I and I art thou**

** Thou has stepped onto the road of Pierrot**

** Thou shall thy blessings when evoking the personas of the Pierrot arcana.**

_"Pierrot Social link level 1"_

Sakuno shook his head. He did not expect that. He reached into his empty pocket, and found something that wasn't there a moment ago.

"This is getting weird."

* * *

**Seriously, when I see people like Mewstar and all, I'm beginning to reconsider this and decide I shld scrap this fic.**

**I just don't have materials.**

**The point of an OC accepting story is when we use OCs from other characters to make a good story.**

**Otherwise even if I do make a good story but with no character material, it just doesn't feel right.**

**So yeah, that's why I think continuning this story is a very bad idea.**

**Sorry to Demon and KO, but I might not be able to continue at this rate.**

**And Demon, please sign in and send me a message. I wanted to talk to u about something, but couldn't because you weren't sign in so I couldn't contact you.**


	4. VERY IMPORTANT NOTICE BEFORE I CAN START

**Important notices:**

**VERY IMPORTANT NOTES:**

**Apparently I just realized how incomplete my list was as it was missing a number of things.**

**SO I changed the rules a bit and added in more questions in the details and all.**

**If there is anyone who sent me characters...**

**please resend them but with updated info.**

**Please go back to chapter 1 to take a look at the new list please.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't owe Persona.**

**Authors notes: Really. I see others story and immediately feel like giving up. I mean come on, others can generate more interest than me. Really, I just keep telling myself maybe it's not so bad.**

**But noooooo I just can't convince myself. Really, if I can't generate enough enthusiasm, I think I'm going to trash this story. Look at others! They have far more people following it. I feel like an idiot because of that.**

**So here's the thing. If I can't generate any more enthusasim or reviewers, and I mean NEW PEOPLE! Not those who have reviewed. This WILL be the LAST CHAPTER!**

**BTW demons...a note. Your characters seem to rush and to gary sue at times. If I want to use them, I'll need full details on their past, and definately no gary sue like.**

**On a route to Naganaki Shrine.**

**Time: 10: 46 am**

* * *

"Man I'm tired."

Sakuno yawned. Walking up and then down a hill while carrying groceries was truly backbreaking.

Even worse was when the sun was shining down onto him.

Why someone had to place the nearest grocery store all the way at the top of a hill was beyond him. But it was also his mother's fault for setting up a store at the base of the said hill at the outskirts of town.

It couldn't be helped that he had no money to take the bus and often ended up having to walk long distances to buy much needed supplies for his family's café.

It also didn't help that his back was still aching from yesterday's battle with the shadow.

The injuries he received when the shadow slammed his persona Hel into the ground, gave him a major headache and a sprain on his back still remained.

The injury made it hard to get out of bed. By the time he did, he realized that he was 3 hours late in his daily grocery run.

"_Oh damn it, if only I had a bike or something, than this wouldn't be so backbreaking." _

More often than once he wished that he had a bike that could be used to make travelling much easier.

"Hey Sakuno! Working hard again? You should really learn to take it easy!"

A woman standing outside a convenience store waved at him.

It was the only convenience store on the hill. It was stationed on the middle, so that passer-by's could take a short break once in a while.

Sakuno swore, were it not for the nice convenience store in the middle of the hill, he would have gladly chose to take the 5 mile walk to the stores in the city rather than climb the hill next to his home.

As he approached the manager of the store, she handed him an ice pop.

"Thanks."

He could always count on the manager to give him an icy treat once in a while.

"Don't worry about payment or anything. Something this small can be overlooked."

"Thanks again than."

He tore open the plastic and started sucking on the popsicle. The manager watched him all the while as he did.

She had something she wanted to say, but she thought it would be better to wait for him to finish first.

Three minutes of silence passed before Sakuno was finally done with the popsicle.

"Thanks a lot lady!"

He wiped his mouth with a tissue paper that was offered to him.

"Don't worry about it." The manager sighed. "By the way, do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Go ahead."

She hesitated for a brief moment. But only for a moment.

"You recently look more tired than normal, has something been happening to you? For the past 2 days, I noticed that you were more tired than normal whenever passing by here. I also received calls from your mother at times to watch out for you if you ever pass by."

"Ah…"

He knew what she was talking about. True enough, recently he had been feeling more exhausted than normal. The main reason for this was the dark hour, or rather it was due to the activities of the dark hour instead. It wasn't like telling her would be of any good, since he knew that she probably won't believe him even if he did.

"I—well—I…um…" He was stuck. He never was good at coming up with excuses or anything.

"Well, I believe that you aren't doing something stupid, or something that would hurt your mother. But still do be careful. Your mother only has you left in her life."

He knew what she was saying. His fingers bailed into a fist so tight that his knuckles almost turned white.

"Yeah I know. Don't worry, I won't make her cry like he did."

The words 'he' were spoken with a great deal of venom. She clearly flinched at the tone he used.

"Well don't worry about him anymore. But nevertheless, I'm just telling you to take better care of yourself. You don't want your mother to worry about you right?'

He sighed. He opened his fists. No longer feeling anger, but rather a great sense of exhaustion instead.

"Yeah. Don't worry though, I'll keep track of my health. Like you said, I wouldn't want mother to worry about me."

She smiled at his response. Even though he was a child, hardships made him grow much faster than many others his age. Unlike most other children, Sakuno never took his mother for granted. If it was for her sake, he would do anything to protect her.

"Well…"

He threw the plastic away and picked up the groceries.

"I should really be heading back now. I don't want to keep mother wait—"

"—BAA—CHAN!"

Sakuno turned around and was greeted with the sight of a bus approaching the store.

Yet what appealed to him wasn't the bus, but the sheer number of children that stuck their heads out of the bus and waved to her.

"Baa-Chan!"

Sakuno turned back to face the manager lady.

"What's going on?'

She just smiled at him.

"Don't worry. It's just a bunch of kids from the local orphanage. Once every week or so, they would come up the mountain for their regular art lessons."

Sakuno found it strange he didn't notice them.

"Why didn't I know about them? I come by almost every day."

She shrugged. "You usually start and finish your runs faster, and so you never really spent much time up on the hill. So it comes to no surprise that you never saw them until now. You used to get up and do the grocery run at 6 in the morning and finish by 8:30, but today you started at 9 instead. No surprise things would be different."

He nodded in understanding.

"Well…regardless. What they do is none of my business, I think I'll head back home first."

"Wait before you go, might I ask how is business these days?"

Sakuno didn't like to talk about it. The truth was that his family's cafe was barely making ends meet. However what he didn't know was that his silence was more than enough of an answer to her question.

"Ah! Well I think I'll talk to you some other time. Seems that your already running late with your grocery run."

"Yeah! I should be going back. See you around lady!"

"One more thing! Cut your hair please! It's so curly that it makes you look like a girl!" She called at the retreating figure of the boy.

"Too expensive!" He shouted as he turn to give her one last glance.

She sighed in exhaustion. Truly, Sakuno could only be called a cheapskate. If only had he bothered to spent time and money cutting his hair, maybe many others won't mistake him for a girl.

"Baa-chan! Baa—"

Her lips curled into a smile as the bus came to a stop and children started walking out of it. "Hmm…maybe I could help his business out."

* * *

**Paulownia Mall: **

**Time: 11:52 Am**

"If my memory serves correctly. The place I seek should be somewhere around here."

Elizabeth wandered about in the mall. Her goal here was to seek a very specific individual out.

Seven years had passed since the cult had been dissolved. She wasn't sure if that said person was still around.

But nevertheless, she was determined to find out more.

Seven years ago, she noticed something strange. Yet for his sake, she never investigated it. For it was a part of his daily life. No matter how foreign to the world she is, she was not ignorant enough to not know the meaning of privacy. And so she never looked into his personal life.

She regretted not doing so later on.

_"Master Igor is not able to assist me. I am unable to seek help from Master Philmon. She maybe the only one left who can do so."_

She walked from shop to shop. Paulownia Mall was a small shopping centre. That was a fact that hadn't change even after seven years.

One only needed a few minutes at most to browse through every store there.

Yet even browsing through for over an hour, she was unable to find what she wanted.

"Hey there miss."

Elizabeth turned about.

A somewhat elderly man dressed in a policeman's uniform stood in front of her. His hair was gray, and his hair had been combed back.

"Greetings kind sir. Is something wrong?"

He shook his head.

"Nothing at all ma'am. I just happened to notice that you have been walking around for some time without entering any of the shops. Furthermore, as a Saturday, should you not be in school?"

There was no denying Elizabeth had the body of a teenager.

As one who rules over power, time held no meaning to her. It was no surprise that she never age. Were she to use her powers, she could forcefully age herself to avoid misunderstandings. However she never bothered to. One thing she learnt in the human world is to let all things take it's course of nature.

"Ah…school.

Please forgive me kind sir. Your reason for concern is valid, but I would assure you that I have no need to attend school.

Furthermore, I am in your terms a foreigner who is simply neglecting her duties." It was true. Every single word is true. Elizabeth had no need for education.

He stared at her for a moment before backing away.

"Ah yes. My apologies. I had assume you to be one of the students playing truant again."

She shook her head.

"I understand kind sir. Many times have there been misunderstandings similar to ours.

Yet now that you are here, would you be kind enough to assist a lost lady?"

"If it is within my ability, I shall do so."

She smiled at his offer.

"Seven years ago, I believe there was an antique store over there. Might I inquire what happened to it? I must find the owner."

"The antique store huh?" He scratched his head. The fact that he didn't answer such a simple question directly meant something was wrong.

"Well, I'm sorry to say that there hasn't been an antique shop in this mall since the last one was closed 6 years ago."

She felt her spirits dampened at the news.

Many years ago, there was an elderly woman who had supported the lad in his journey. Her services had proven invaluable in more ways than one. Elizabeth had been hoping that she would be able to assist the children in their journey once more.

But it seems that it was not to be.

The policeman noticed her crestfallen expression and quickly spoke up. "Well if it makes you feel better, you can track down the location of the store through the internet as long as you remembered its name."

As quickly as her mood fell, it perked up upon receiving the news. Not all hope was lost it seems.

"Off course. How silly of me." Seven years and she still hasn't used the internet even once. It wasn't like she was primitive, but because most of her problems were supernatural, she never had the need to use it.

...So she never learnt.

That never meant she didn't know how to get someone else to do it for her instead.

* * *

**Time: 11:57 pm**

**Location: Sakazaki cafe**

"Achoo!"

Sakuno sneezed "Is someone talking about me?"

At the moment, he was watching bread being baked. A boring task no doubt, but one that was needed.

"Saku-kun, is the bread ready yet?"

"Not yet mom!" He called out to his mother who was managing the pasta.

Sakuno always wondered why his mother chose to do a western style cafe rather a Japanese one. The quality of ingredients used was a lot harder to get, and not to mention that they were more expensive.

*Bring*Bring*

"Saku-kun! Would you be a dear and answer that?"

Sighing, he turned away from the oven to answer the phone.

"Hello?"

"_Excuse me, is this the Sakazaki café?"_

"Yes it is, how may I help you?"

_"My name is Yukina Yamazaki. I am the caretaker of the local orphanage. I'm calling to enquire about a promotion?"_

"Ah!" He was surprise, and elated. Due to the location of the cafe, it was hard to gain customers even if there was a promotion. The promotion had been opened for a week or so, but little people even took note of it. "Yes! There are several promotions at the moment, may I help you in anyway?"

He was trying to be as polite as best he could. Usually whenever people made a booking, it was for a group of customers, and whenever an outside company does that, it would mean a LARGE group of customers. The way business was, he could not afford to lose this chance.

_"I was wondering, is it possible to make a booking for around 40 people?"_

His grin widen. 40 people. The amount of profit they'll earn is large, even if they were doing a promotion.

"Yes. It's easily arranged. To when may I ask?"

_"It will be somewhere around 6 in the evening. Is that all right?"_

"Certainly!

Than just to make sure, a booking for 40 people around 6 in the evening tonight right?"

_"Yes. That is correct."_

"Than your booking has been made. Kindly note, that the latest you can come is fifteen minutes after your booking. Any later than that, and it will be void."

_"I understand. Once again, thank you very much for your assistance."_

His mood took a turn for the better when he hung up. There were a lot of customers coming today. If all went well, the store might make a profit.

"Hey mom! We just got a booking for 40 people tonight!"

"That's wonderful! But there's a small problem son!"

"A problem?"

"There was apparently a storm yesterday night in the sea. It made fishing difficult, so the fish market today was low on fish.

I'll need you to go to the port instead and buy some extras. I know it costs more since the fish there is imported, but we have no choice. If we don't, we won't be able to last through the day with what we have."

Sakuno sighed. He knew what he was going to do later on.

"_Fourteen miles huh? I really wish I had a bike."_

He was sure that a seven mile walk back and forth while carrying loads of fish was going to break his back.

To prevent that, he decided that it was time to pay someone a visit.

* * *

**Time: 12: 13 pm**

**Location: Antique Shop**

"Welcome to Geraldine's Antiques, how may I help you?"

Elizabeth after managing to persuade a certain child to use the internet for her, was finally able to locate what she was looking for.

"Thank you for your assistance. My objective here is to locate a certain individual. I believe her name is Shinshoudo."

"Shinshoudo?"

Clearly, no matter what language one would use to refer that name too, it would sound strange. Clearly a name not meant for an individual. But then again, Elizabeth wasn't exactly human. Nor was her manner of thinking human to begin with. Had she thought harder, she would have come to realize that Shinshoudo was probably name after an individual rather than the name of an actual person.

"I…apologize ma'am. But I don't think we have an employee by that name."

"Strange. He told me that the store was relocated to this very location. Was he mistaken?"

As Elizabeth was about to leave, a woman entered the store.

"Ah welcome back Sou-sama!"

Elizabeth turned around, and came face to face with an elderly woman with tanned skin. Her face was somewhat wrinkled, and her body fairly slim. Her short hair was a mixture of greyish and white. She donned a simple white dress.

The said woman approached the counter, and Elizabeth. But her attention was more on the former.

"How are things today? Were there any messages?"

"Nothing of any significance happened today boss. However I need to remind you of the meeting that's coming up in a few hours. Apparently they—"

As the two discussed things that irrelevant to her, Elizabeth meanwhile took the chance to examine the newcomer. That was something that just drew her attention to the elderly woman. The more she examined her face, the more she felt that she should know her.

Eventually, something clicked in her head.

"Ah yes! Now I remember! You must be the owner of Shinshoudo Antiques are you not?"

The woman looked at her with a puzzled expression for a moment before replying.

"Shinshoudo Antiques? Now there's a name I haven't heard for a long period of time. May I ask why you are inquiring about that?"

"My name is Elizabeth. I am seeking the former owner of Shinshoudo Antiques which I believe is you. There is something I must discuss with her, and by her I mean you."

Without waiting for Elizabeth to say anything else, she simply brushed her aside.

However Elizabeth was having none of that. She reached forth and pulled her around.

"Pardon me, but I have something I wish to discuss with you."

"If it's about me selling the shop, the answer is no."

She tried to turn about, but Elizabeth simply held her there.

"I believe you are mistaken madam. The discussion I have in mind, is more related to the…'dark hour'."

Immediately the elderly woman's eyes widen in shock. Elizabeth took this as a chance to continue her words.

"Interested now are we? The discussion I had in mind was indeed a lot different than what you expected was it not?"

The woman called Sou looked her in the eye for a moment before she suddenly grabbed Elizabeth by her arm and pulled her to her office nearby.

Indeed, there was much to discuss.

* * *

**Time: 12: 41 pm**

"I hate those jerks!"

It was unslightly for a child to be sproutng cursed and foul language in broad daylight. It reflects badly on not only themselves, but also their family. Kanai Hirona was well aware of that.

She stood outside the home of Shino Tarakagi. The boy whom she had a crush on since childhood.

She was waiting for a chance to go out with him. However the said chance might not arrive, due to the interferance of his older brothers who were keeping him against his will.

She thought up many ideas, but not a single one of them were good enough to pry him away from the clutches of his bothersome brothers.

Recently, she had noticed that her childhood friend had been getting tired without any apparent reason. As a good friend, it was only natural to worry about him.

"Hey!" A voice called out to her from behind.

She turned around and came face to face with another girl around her age.

"Hey! Umm...hi?" How this girl had managed to sneak up upon her was another story.

...No it wasn't actually. Kanai was just too much of an airhead. You could stomp your way across to her while she's daydreaming, and she won't even notice anything.

"Well...hi I guess." The girl scratched her head. "Umm...do you live here or something?"

"Oh no! I'm just a neighbour. I was waiting for my friend to come out so we can play together, but it seems that he's busy." She kicked some pebbles on the floor. "Too bad. Well, I can come again another time than."

Not many know this, but Shino's brothers were really abusive at times. She was one of the few who were knew this, and worry for his sake. Without anything else to say, she left, leaving the new comer on her own.

She didn't want others to know of her feelings towards him.

* * *

**Time: 1:01 pm**

Sakuno's back was still hurting somewhat, and he was sure that Shino no doubt would be hurting somewhere since he fought the shadow for a longer period of time as compared to him.

Concern for his wellbeing, he decided to pay him a visit before heading to the port market.

He didn't expect to find a girl his age loitering about outside his home. Not that it was off any importance.

Shino probably had a life and friends off his own. He wasn't going to bother inquiring into it. What he was going to inquire about was his condition at the moment.

It was rather abrupt when the girl just left suddenly. However that was none of his business. He simply shrugged and walked up towards Shino's home and pressed the bell.

Or rather attempted too.

Just as his finger was about to press the bell, the door swung open and Shino rushed out.

"AND DON'T COME BACK TILL YOU GET THEM!"

Sakuno barely managed to step out of the way in time to avoid collision with him.

The said friend didn't even notice him as he ran past him without saying a word. Sakuno found that annoying and ran after him.

Thankfully Sakuno had a really good physique despite his age. It was easy for him to catch up Shino.

"Hey Shino! What happened? You just barrelled past me without saying anything." He asked his friend as he slowed his run to match Shino's pace.

Shino not realizing his presence until now stopped his run and took out a notepad from his pockets.

"_Oh hi there! Sorry I didn't see you Sakuno!"_

"I was standing in front of your house when you suddenly burst through the door and ran passed me without saying a word."

Shino looked away. He was somewhat embarassed. Sakuno didn't blame him, he would be too if he made a simple mistake like that.

"Anyway..." On to serious business. "Could I ask if your free tonight?" There were many things he wanted to ask off him, but he didn't think there was any need to call him, not when he could just dropby and ask him personally.

_"Don't worry, I'm free tonight. Where should we meet?"_

"Let's meet at my home. You know where it is right?" Although he recalled briefly telling him yesterday where his home was, he wanted to confirm it.

_"Don't worry, I know where it is." _

It was kind of annoying how he had to write everything down. Elizabeth had already told him why that he wasn't a mute, so he didn't understand why couldn't he just speak properly.

"By the way, why were you in such a rush just now?"

Gone was his good mood as he started scribbling down on the notepad again. He noticed that this time round, he was using a lot more force when writing. Sakuno was sure that if he didn't control his strength, he was going to punch a hole through the paper.

"_Stupid brothers of mine. They force me into buying things for them with my own money."_

"Why don't you stand up to them?" Sakuno never had siblings, so it was quite clear that he had no idea how he felt.

"_I don't want to talk about it."_

Seems he hit a sore sport. Sakuno thought that it wouldn't be a good idea to antagonize him any further. "Okay, if you don't want to talk, than I force you.

Though, if it's not too much trouble, could I ask for a favour?"

"_Shoot."_

"Do you have a bike or something I could borrow? I need to head to the port market, but I don't have money for a bus, and it's hard walking back and forth while carrying a lot of fish." That was an understatement. It would be backbreaking for him if he tried that, and he certainly wasn't in a mood for running multiple trips back and forth none stop.

Shino came from a better to do family than him. He was hoping that he could take advantage of that and borrow something that could make his trip easier, like say a bicycle.

He knew it was wrong to have thoughts like this, but the temptation of having an easier time was too much.

Besides, he was only going to do this once right?

Or so he kept telling himself.

"_I have a bike you can borrow if you want, but it's kind of old. I don't use it that much."_

…forget that. His morales wouldn't let him take advantage of him. At the very least, he was going to try and give him something of equal value in return.

His mood skyrocketed upon hearing his answer. "If you'll lend me your bike, I'll give you something nice in exchange."

The said nice things were actually just some coupons of his family cafe. It wasn't really a fair trade, but it was better than nothing.

"I never imagined that I would be doing this once more. I had assumed seven years ago, everything would have come to an end."

"As did I. The reappearance of the dark hour was something even I could not have foreseen." Elizabeth sighed. The two sat in a private office belonging to Sou.

Many years ago, Sou had been a supplier of powerful weapons and artefacts for a group of powerful persona users. Her job as a manager of an antique shop was but a cover up for her real duty. A weapons supplier for persona users. Her services had been invaluable. Elizabeth who back than was a watcher, had seen how useful they were.

"Truly, I wish I could help you more, but I am nothing like what I was during many years ago." The elderly woman sighed as she put her glasses onto the table.

She rubbed her forehead as if trying to deal with a migraine of some sort. It was clear that she was not feeling comfortable with Elizabeth's request.

"May I inquire what the meaning behind those words?" Elizabeth was somewhat desperate for her help.

Without a doubt, with all her power, there were many things she could do. However she still had limits. If she wanted to accomplish her goal, she would need the help of dependable comrades.

Sakuno and the others were still immature, there was no way she could count on them, not with the way they are at the moment.

Sakuno especially. He had a growth that was very different from all persona users. He clearly had an ability that was unique to his own, but he was no wild card. There were just too many unknown factors about him to train him properly.

His power had produced several interesting objects, mainly the cards. Yet if one had no knowledge about their meaning or ways to utilize their effects, it would be completely useless. It was obvious the first thing to do for him is to discover the meaning of the cards itself.

"After the Nyx incident years ago, I stopped making tools and weapons because there was no longer any reason too. I sold out my shop and moved to a bigger store and the rest is history."

"Than if I may ask? Would you be kind enough to tell me what has become of them?"

She shook her head. "I apologize, but I have no weapon off any sort left to offer you. I trashed everything when I sold my store." Sad news indeed, but nothing could be done about it. "I'm sorry, if I had known that the crisis was not truly over, I would never have done that."

Elizabeth sighed. "There is nothing to apologize for." She held no bad feelings towards her. After all, despite her limited knowledge, she knew humans had to deal with their own lives, and she couldn't blame them for it.

"However…" Sou sighed again as she put her glasses back on. "That doesn't mean I am useless. For you see, while I did sell my store and trashed my weapons, that didn't mean I got rid of everything."

Elizabeth's mood immediately took a turn for the better. There might be some hope to claims useful tools after all.

Sou stood up, Elizabeth followed. "Follow me, I'll hand you the very last creations that I ever made. But never had the chance to give out."

As she was about to leave the room, she suddenly stopped as her hand was reaching for the door. "By the way..."

"Is something amiss?"

She turned about, as if she had something eager to ask.

* * *

**Time: 2: 27 PM**

Sakuno was taking a walk along the pier. He had placed his large order a while ago. It would take some time for his orders to get through.

So currently to pass the time, he decided to take a walk.

"This sucks."

Sakuno watched with envy as people sat at their pier fishing.

Being so poor, he didn't even have the time nor the luxury to enjoy a simple event like that.

One particular fisherman caught his attention.

He was a short individual with brown standing hair. He was of average height and a somewhat of a small build. His choice of clothing was a light blue button up shirt along with light brown slacks.

Sakuno watched with mild fascination as he engaged in combat with what appeared to be a humongous fish. The guy trashed left and right as he engaged in the tug of war. The whole thing was fascinating to him.

Trying to get a better look at things, Sakuno attempted to approach him. His attention never leaving the fight between the two even for a second.

"YEOUCH!"

With a sudden violent twist, the boy ended up slamming his fishing rod into the Sakuno's face.

Said boy ended up being knocked to the side. The impact snapped the line, and the guy lost his catch of the day.

"What the hell?!"

Needless to say the guy wasn't so happy about someone screwing up his catch of the day. He took one look at Sakuno who was lying on the ground and sighed. "Just a kid."

He went back to fishing after seeing it was just a child he knocked over.

Normally Sakuno would take offense at that, but considering that he was the one who screwed up his catch, there was nothing he could say to it.

"You know kid, the least you could do is say sorry."

"And the least you could do is say sorry as well!"

_'Rude ass punk!'_ Not that he had the guts to say it to his face or anything.

"For what? I'm not the idiot girl who walks up to a guy whose fighting am I?"

"Hurk..." There was no rebutal for that. He can't deny that he was partially at fault for walking up to him without thinking. He didn't comment on the girl part since he knew that it was his fault that

Still...

"Your an asshole you know that?" That didn't mean that he could just brush him aside.

The boy spared him a glance for a moment. "Your point?" That was all he was going to say before he went back to fishing.

Sakuno was really pissed off. There was no further need to stay behind with this guy. He didn't give a damn about anything other than himself. Not that Sakuno was very polite to begin with.

*Plop*Plop*

"What the heck?!" Just a few seconds after casting his rod, he had already gotten a bite. Immediately Sakuno forgot about his rude behaviour and redirected his attention on the fish instead.

This time round, he was more careful and kept his head low so that it won't crash into the fishing rod again should the guy swing it around.

He had to admit, this guy was good. He matched every moment of the fish. The chances of the fish escaping was nearly zero.

It only took a matter of seconds before the guy pulled it out of the water.

"Tch...small fry."

Sakuno didn't think it was small in the slightest. In fact, he thought it was pretty big.

"Back you go you little piece of crap." And he threw it away without a second thought.

"What the hell?! That was a big one! Why did you throw it away?!" If he didn't want it, he could have given it to less fortunate kid. Or so Sakuno felt like it.

He gave a none caring glance at the boy. "It's small kid. No point holding onto it." He then went back to casting a fish.

"Small?! A fish that size could easily last me for days!"

"Wow! You must be a hamster than. Nibbling away so slowly. A fish as small as this will barely make it through a single meal." The boy clearly took a lot of pride in his fishing skills.

Sakuno just glared at him. He was jealous of him. A guy who could fool around as he wished because he came from a better to do family than him. A fish that big could easily last for days in his hands.

Or so he assumed.

The clothes that he wore were relatively new. That was obvious from one look. Someone as poor as Sakuno had to wear clothes for over 4 years and still is, unless they get torn apart or so. Whereas his clothes were realitvely new, and the logo on his shirt was clearly branded.

"What? You not happy with me kid? Too bad."

That grin that he gave out at the end was the last straw. He couldn't bring himself to hang around him any longer. In his book, anyone who doesn't know the meaning of wasteful is trash to him.

The boy clearly took everything for granted or so he assumed. He didn't want to spend any more time with him.

He stomped off, leaving the boy on his own.

* * *

**Time: 3:42 PM **

**Location: Abandoned warehouse.**

"I must confess. I was surprise when I first heard of a human who was capable of creating such powerful tools. Before tales of your accomplishments had reached my ears, I had assumed that I along with my master would have been the only ones to aid them in their quest." Elizabeth mentioned.

Currently she along with the former owner of Shinshoudo Antiques were in a dusty old warehouse at the moment. Their main purpose was to extract the last weapons that were created seven years ago.

"Likewise. I had thought that officer Kurosawa and I were the only ones to have done so." The former owner of the antique store replied. She strolled through the warehouse confidently. She was well aware of what she was looking for.

Seven years had passed, but she clearly did not forget where she had placed her precious cargo. Elizabeth followed her to a storeroom.

"In here is where I left my final creations. I never thought the day would come when someone would need to use it." She opened the door to the storeroom. The inside was just as bad as the warehouse. It was a complete mess.

Brushing aside several cobwebs as Sou made her way in, she walked up to a table and pulled a drawer out. From the drawer, she pulled out two small boxes. One silver, one gold.

"Am I to assume that within the two boxes holds your final work?" Elizabeth was curious. From what she had heard, what was left was supposedly very powerful if it were meant to surpass all her previous works.

Sou only smiled in response to her question. She certainly couldn't wait to see her face the moment she saw them in action.

* * *

**Time: 4:47 PM**

**Location: Sakazaki Cafe**

"You okay son? You want to take a break until the children come?" His mother was concern. She had noticed her son being a bad mood since his return from the port.

"No I'm fine mom. I just met an arrogant prick earlier on at the port who spoilt my mood." He replied as he finished putting on an apron. He was ready to work. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that he needed to work to get his mind of some earlier events.

In his right hand was a rolling pin, in his left was a bag of flour. He was going to do a lot of baking today, and there was nothing anyone could say that would deter him.

His mother continued to worry about him, but never said anything else. She trusted her son to make his decisions for himself.

It wasn't like she was lazy or oblivious. She simply had that much faith in him. However at times she felt that she had too much faith in him. It was clear that at the rate he was going about, sooner or later his body would collapse.

As a child, Sakuno had never been particularly healthy. Yet since four years old, he was already working far harder than most children his age would be. He never stopped to consider himself whenever someone bought up the topic of helping her.

It wasn't just that alone, but also because Sakuno had no social life. The only friend he had was Miyuki, and she too was often busy with helping her family.

If left alone, she was sure that her son would eventually grow up alone.

*Bam*

The entrance door suddenly flung open, and a parade of eager and somewhat drenched children ran in happily. Several equally drenched adults also entered afterwards.

One of the adults walked up towards the counter where she was standing.

"Umm…hello? How may I help you?"

"This is the Sakazaki Café am I correct?"

"Yes it is."

"Good. My name is Sakura, and I'm one of the caretakers of the local orphanage. I believed that there was a booking for 40 earlier on."

She checked the booking list. "40…40…oh here we are!

Yes, there is a booking for 40, but I assumed it to be in the evening."

"Ah yes. It was supposed to be in the evening, but unfortunately, there was a sudden downpour at the field, and we had to leave immediately. Seeing that by the time the rain would stop, it would be too late to resume playing, and as such we decided to drop by here in advance. We apologize for the inconvenience."

A part of her wanted to assure her that it was no trouble, but another part wanted to admit that it was very troublesome when large groups of people drop by unannounced ahead of their booking times.

She looked around. Everywhere she looked, there were wild and rowdy children all about her café. They ran from one spot to another, shoving and pushing aside chairs and tables, leaving a large disorganized mess around.

To make matters worse, their shoes and clothes were both drenched and muddy. She was sure that washing off their mess was going to be very tiring.

Off course she couldn't just admit it out loud. After all, they are her customers, and they were just children. It wasn't like she could just raise her voice at them.

That left one option for her…

"Saku-kun!"

Get her son to handle them. He was a child as well, no matter how independent or how grownup he appeared to be, Sakuno was still a child like them. He would have an easier time interacting with them as compared to her.

Said son walked through the kitchen door covered in floor. The moment he laid eyes on the children, he felt like screaming out in frustration, but somehow managed to contain himself.

"What's wrong mom?" He asked as he unwrapped the apron he was wearing and placed it onto the table.

His mother looked at him for a moment before sighing. "The children came earlier due to a sudden downpour. I haven't finished marinating the food yet. I was wondering if you could entertain them for a while?"

He pouted. Though he was actually frustrated, his pout made him seem cute instead. The request wasn't hard to comply, but there were some personal reasons why he rather not do it.

"Well, I guess I do have some idea on how to entertain them." But personal reasons were no excuse to not help his mother.

She smiled at him as she rubbed his head in appreciation. "Thanks a lot son, I'll be done with the food in an hour to two."

* * *

**5:11 PM**

**Location: Shino's room.**

Shino currently in the meantime was taking a nap. His annoying brothers had went out on dates, leaving him to manage the house alone.

*Beep*Beep*

His phone rang. From the inconsistent ringtone, it was a message rather than a call. He sighed in annoyance. He would read the message later, for now he was rather tired and all he wanted to do was sleep.

*Beep*Beep*

The phone rang again, but he didn't stir.

*Beep*Beep*

For the next five minutes, the phone rang continuously, but he didn't do anything about it. He was already fast asleep.

Eventually the phone stopped receiving messages after a while, and a magic circle appeared in the centre of his room. Yet somehow he still managed to sleep through that.

A figure stepped out and glanced down at his sleeping form.

A smiled graced Elizabeth's lips as she decided to try something out.

2 minutes later, a scream so terrifying that it could wake the dead echoed throughout the whole district.

* * *

**Time: 6:03 PM**

**Location: Unknown…**

"Hey! Don't just don't take your clothing's off so suddenly! Be more organized!" Sakuno cried out in frustration. He cursed silently as the kids were ravaging his private sanctuary.

Located at the base of the hill leading to Naginaki Shrine was a forest. Within the centre of the forest was a lake. It was completely natural, clean and clear and completely unknown to all but one. That person was Sakuno, and the lake had been his private sanctuary.

He had worked long and hard to install a tree house, a swing, a ladder and a rope for his personal fun and games.

He never imagined that it would be destroyed despite spending so much time on maintaining it.

Until today…

Sakuno sighed when he realized that the kids were beyond control. The only thing keeping him from losing his mind was the knowledge that these kids wouldn't ever come here again. After today, he was going to barricade this place to ensure that only he himself could ever enter.

He watched as children one after another attempted to imitate Tarzan's infamous cry of the jungle. They held onto the rope hanging from the tree off his tree house while swinging into the lake with reckless abandon.

The caretakers were completely useless. They weren't able to do anything to pacify the children. The only option left was to wait for them to fully exhaust themselves.

He decided to retreat back into the tree house. He didn't think anyone would bother looking inside since the only thing the kids were interested in was the rope swing and the lake.

The moment he entered the room however, he was surprised. There was a young girl sulking in the corner.

"Stupid! Stupid idiots! I hate them! I—"

Clearly the girl was not in a good mood, but Sakuno didn't care. This was his tree house. His home and his sanctuary. If she tried to chase him out, she would find out just how difficult that was going to be.

"Hey what are you doing here?" He walked towards her.

She raised her head to look at him. She was still sulking. For some reason her mood got worse as he came closer. She probably wanted to be alone. Too bad for her he didn't plan on obliging her.

"This is my tree house, what are YOU doing here? Shouldn't you be out there with the rest of the kids playing on the rope or something?"

The moment she lifted her head to glare at him, he immediately understood why she wasn't playing around like the rest of the kids.

"Your eyes! Their-"

"What? Blind? Obviously! Why else do you think I'm hanging out on my own?! Everyone else pretty much ditched me just so they could enjoy that stupid rope jump of yours!" She was pretty angry and was raising her voice.

Sakuno however was more interested in her eyes at the moment. Her eyes were a beautiful dull shade. One look at her and it was clear that she was blind.

He continued to stare at her for a few more moments before he realized the situation. "Well what's stopping you from having fun?"

She pouted in annoyance. "I'm blind! That's why!" She stood up and stomped on the floor. "I mean come on! So what if I'm blind! I'm not some helpless little girl who can't even take care of herself! I can—"

Sakuno got a good look at her now that she was standing up fully. She had medium length white hair left flowing down. Her powder eyes were dull but somewhat beautiful. She wore ragged but cute mauve knee-length dress with matching flat heel slippers.

"Hmm…your quite pretty aren't you? Too bad you can't see."

Immediately her mouth was shut. She wanted to say something, but she couldn't bring herself to form any solid word. She opened and closed her mouth repeatedly. Clearly she hadn't been expected to be commented so suddenly.

He reached forth and attempted to stroke her hair when she suddenly let out a startled cry and slapped his hand away.

"Wha-?" He was surprise. He thought she was blind, yet she was able to knock his hand away at the last moment.

"What are you doing? Don't just touch me so suddenly!" She angrily retorted. Clearly she really did know what he was doing.

"Your not blind?" Sakuno asked. Those eyes of hers were beautiful without a doubt, but the dull colour easily gave the impression that she was blind.

She huffed in annoyance. "Off course I'm blind! I just happen to know how to feel my surrondings."

"Feel your surroundings huh? Somehow I'm quite doubtful. I don't believe it." Why not? A girl his age with such a convenient ability? Why would he? Even older people who had been blind for ages longer than her had to rely on others most of the time.

"Its true! It's really true! I can totally feel my surroundings!"

"Yeah right!" He brushed her off quickly.

"I can! I can! I can! In fact I know where you are now!"

"You can tell from my voice alone can't you?" He smirked at her.

Deciding it was all right to have some fun, he suddenly poked her kidneys.

"Yelp!" She squealed as she jumped. The feeling was definitely tickling. His mother used to do it to him in the past, and from her, he leant that jabbing a finger at a person's kidney will make them laugh. It was actually a lot more fun than just tickling someone.

He stepped to the left afterwards thinking he was safe.

"What was that for?!"

He was wrong. She stepped to the left and jabbed him in the kidney, earning a squeal as well.

He didn't know how she was able to do that, but he didn't care, he jabbed her back and once again she jumped in shock. This time round she didn't squeal, but instead giggled. He jabbed her again and her giggles erupted into a full blown laughter.

"Stop! –ahhaha-stop that!" She cried out in between fits of laughter.

"Nope. I don't feel like it." Sakuno replied as he continued to jab her sides, causing her to back away as she laughed like a maniac. "Come on. I thought you said u could sense my presence?"

The next thing he knew, he was lying on the ground pinned by her.

She grinned. "Okay than, time to prove myself."

With a few swift movements of her fingers, Sakuno ended up laughing like a maniac now. As she continued to jab his sides repeatedly.

"Had enough?" She asked as she flashed him a smirk as his laughter died down.

He simly returned her smirk with his own. "Not quite." And with swift nimble movements, he jabbed her sides. The sudden tickling sensation caused her to squeal. He shoved her off at that moment.

Both of them quickly got back up and faced each other. They smiled in anticpation as they went through several ideas of what their next moves.

"TICKLE FIGHT!" The two shouted together as they leapt at each other.

What happened next was probably something that belonged in a mental hospital.

* * *

**Time:?**

**Location: Velvet Room**

"I must admit I am most intrigue. Unfortunately you must remember that only the ones who have signed a 'contract' has the right to enter the velvet room."

Elizabeth sighed. Though the smile never left her face. "My time in the human world has taught me many things. I was wrong to have mistaken the difference between true strength and raw power. I am certain that even without assistance from the velvet room, that child will grow strong."

There was no reply from her former master. It was clear that he didn't want to hear anything from her.

"If I may ask, might I inquire your reason for summoning me back to the velvet room?"

Her former master spoke. All the while he faced the ground. "Elizabeth. We will soon be having a new guest."

The world was large, events was always happening. There was no surprise to his words. Guests will always visit the Velvet room sooner or later. The only way it would stop is through the extinction of humans.

When she didn't reply, he continued speaking. "Elizabeth, long have I ignored your misfits. However I can no longer do so."

Elizabeth's eyes narrowed. She knew what he was saying.

"And so I would like for you to return home."

* * *

**Time: 9:11 Pm**

**Location: Sakazaki Cafe**

"You know, it would have been better a lot better if you had just given us a call in the first place. Our humble little shop might not have survived the onslaught of a black hole without preparations." Sakuno smirked at his uninvited guest.

"You are very rude young man. I do believe there is a saying called 'the customer is always right.' am I correct?"

"Yeah but your an exception."

Elizabeth pouted. It was childish of her, but she didn't care. "As enjoyable as it is talking to you, I ask you of a request."

The two of them were sitting at a table inside Sakuno's family cafe. The children from the orphanage had left a while ago. Elizabeth had shown up in the midst of cleaning the shop looking for him. Naturally as his teacher, his mother showed no signs of suspicion and allowed them to talk as she finished the cleaning.

"What is it?" This was new. Elizabeth never asked for anything. She would just do as she wished.

"Tonight during the dark hour, please gather your friend here. There is something I must pass on to the two of you."

His eyes widen as he noticed something. "You know, when using the words pass on, you do realize that it signifies that you're going to die and you're supposed to leave something behind for them?"

"Oh my!" She gasped. "Is that so? I never knew. I thought it was but another meaning for farewell."

"Guess your wrong than."

Elizabeth was odd. She knew how to do perfect maths and science easily. Be it from elementary school to university level. Yet at times she couldn't even do basic Japanese. Her way of speaking was too formal most of the time, and she often used misunderstood phrases and meanings…to a very large extend.

But that was perhaps the only thing Sakuno could tease her about. Too bad Elizabeth had nearly no sense of shame. It spoilt just about all his fun in teasing her.

"Anyway…" He cleared his throat. "I came about another social link while you were away."

He put in his hands into his pocket and pulled out a card. "Here." He passed it to her.

Elizabeth after taking a look, returned the card to him. "I see…" She didn't know what to make of him.

She looked to the side and glanced at the clock. "9:20 pm. It is best I leave. I must attend to another business. I shall return soon. Please do not trouble yourself, I will show myself out."

Sakuno thought that something was a bit strange. "Tonight must be really important. Funny how I'm getting used to this."

* * *

**Time: 9:27 Pm**

**Location: Shino's room**

'_Meet at café tonight. Liz says it's important.'_

Shino sighed. He was already tired from running errands for his brothers all day long and was planning on getting some sleep. He wanted to avoid running out during the dark hour if possible.

"_Guess I'll be sleeping in tomorrow."_

Time: 11:41 pm

Location: Orphanage

Hiromi yawned. She was quite exhausted and was heading off to bed. All the while she was smiling and humming a tune as she tucked herself in. She had exhausted herself earlier playing with a boy her age. Afterwards she had taken dinner with her friends and family at a new café. The said café had really good food, it was far better than what she had normally.

Afterwards, there was a small celebration of another one of the children's birthday there before heading home.

Immediately after heading home, she had washed up and than decided to throw herself onto her bed and let it carry her to dreamland.

Being blind, there were several privileges if one were to look at it from another point of view. Seeing that she was blind, the caretakers decided to give her an individual room of her own. They removed most of the items in the storeroom and replaced it with a makeshift bed and a small cabinet of her own. They thought that it would be inconvenient to stay with the other children seeing that she was blind.

Despite her many protests saying that she could find her way around the building, none of the caretakers would have that, and decide to offer her special treatment. Not that she didn't like it off course. She was a girl loved attention, and also a girl who loved to be spoilt.

She closed her eyes for a few moments feeling herself drifting closer to the land of dreams.

*Tog*Tog*

Only to be pulled awake by the sound of the someone knocking on the door. She mumbled a few words as she pulled herself off the bed and walked towards the door.

"Who is it?" She called out. There was no reply.

Steadying herself, she took a deep breath. Normally she could sense her surroundings. It was a special talent of hers that no one believed. Yet despite her talent, she was unable to tell who was behind the door.

*Tog*Tog*

Steeling herself, she opened the door.

She didn't remember what happened after she had opened the door.

* * *

**Time: 11:48 pm**

**Location: Unknown**

Issac Laught was polishing up his fishing rod. He had gotten a speck of blood earlier on when he had hit a child on the head with by accident. Said child was so angry with him that she didn't even know that her head was bleeding. A small cut nothing to worry about.

*Tog*Tog*

He glanced towards the windows thinking he had heard someone knocking on it. When he saw no one through the window, he shook his head and went back to polishing his rod thinking it was just his imagination.

*Tog*Tog*

Then came the knocking on his windows again. This time round, he heard it clearly. When he looked through the window again, he saw no one. Frowning, he made his way to the window and opened it.

The moment he looked down, he was startled to see a large magic circle beneath the window.

"What the hell is that?!" He instinctively thought out loud.

Before he could step away from the window, he felt something shove him with great force. The impact easily sent him over the edge of his window, where he than proceeded to fall through the magic circle.

* * *

**Time: 11:59 pm**

**Location: Sakazaki café**

Sakuno and Shino both sat on a chair facing each other. The two of them were tired and didn't want anything to do with the dark hour tonight. They just wanted to sleep, to bad Elizabeth just had to spoil their ideas.

"26—25—24" Sakuno counted down as he observed the café's clock.

The dark hour was going to begin soon. Shino didn't seem like the type to talk, so he didn't talk to him and passed the time just looking at the clock.

"5—4—3—2—1—"

At that moment, all things came to a stop as the dark hour emerged. The world was dyed in errie green and all electronics died.

A few seconds later, the entrance to the café opened, and Elizabeth walked in. The two boys just sighed.

"So, might I ask what's today's meeting about?"

She smiled as she strolled up towards the table they were sitting at and joined them.

"Before I explain that, I would like to show you several interesting things." She snapped her fingers.

Immediately both the boys raised their hands to cover their eyes from a sudden eruption of bright light.

"WAAAAAA-"

"ERRRAAA—"

Two screams suddenly could be heard from within. The light was too blinding, making it impossible to see who was responsible for that, and so they waited for the light to die down.

When the light died down, there were two figures lying facedown on the ground.

Sakuno for some reason thought both looked familiar.

The two groaned out as they pushed themselves of the floor rubbing their heads as they did.

"Hiromi? Is that you?"

The girl looked up from her position. Even though she was blind, she could still feel his presence.

"Sakuno? Is that you? What's going on here? One moment I was about to sleep, and the next I'm here."

"What's going on here?" The other person asked.

Sakuno shifted his attention to him, and immediately he too knew who that was.

"Hey your that son of a bitch from the peer this afternoon." He pointed out. Apparently Sakuno had not forgotten about his earlier encounter with him at the pier."

Before he could reply, Sakuno turned to Elizabeth. "What's going on here? Why did you bring them as well?"

She shrugged. "Oh my? I believe you humans would call you slow if I am not mistaken. The fact that they can move despite the dark hour, does it not mean anything to you?"

The gears started spinning in his head, and a few seconds later, something clicked.

"You mean? These two are—"

She nodded in confirmation. "That is correct, both of them are persona users."

"WHAT?!"

There was a combined cry coming from three people. Sakuno, Hiromi and the fisherman.

The whole thing was so sudden for the three of them. That there were a lot of confusion. Were it not for the fact that everyone is a coffin during the dark hour, their questions and arguments would no doubt cause a lot of commotion.

Eventually after a near twenty minutes, Sakuno sighed and rubbed his forehead. He was feeling tired. Elizabeth truly had no consideration, dropping something like this without telling them in advance.

Eventually he decided to speak up, the moment Elizabeth had just finished explaining the situation. Honestly, that woman was about the only person who would just rudely go into the situation without even introducing each other first.

"You know, you could at the very least introduce each other before explaining the situation." He sighed. "I'm Sakuno Sakazaki."

"I'm Hiromi. Nice to meet all of you!" The blind bubbly girl proudly shouted out loud. One had to admire her spirit and enthusiasm even in this situation.

Shino started making some gestures, but no one understood, eventually he sighed as he took out a notepad and wrote. _"I'm Shino Tarakagi. Likewise."_

Everyone glanced towards the teenage boy. He huffed in annoyance. "Fine, I'm Issac Laught. Happy?"

"You could be less of a jerk." Sakuno replied to his introduction.

"Who asked you brat?" Issac brushed him off.

Sakuno however glanced towards Elizabeth. "Could I ask you for a few things Elizabeth?"

"What is it?"

He thought hard about the questions he wanted to ask before asking. "Could I ask where did you find the two of them? And what are you planning by bringing them here together?"

She smiled. "I was…how do you humans put it? Ah yes. I was thinking outside the box. When I discovered Shino-san, I realized that the possibility of more persona users awakening exist, and so I changed my search patterns and wandered from one part of the city to another, that was how I had discovered the two of them still being awake during the dark hour."

"Discovered Shino? You just discovered him yesterday!"

Her smile got wider. "Yes I did, but that doesn't matter does it? I suppose you could say…'Jackpot!' as you humans would put it."

Everyone sighed.

"Elizabeth. When you finish the phrase …'I suppose you could say', you are supposed to pause for a moment to put on sunglasses before finishing sentence. It generates a dramatic effect." Sakuno explained.

"Oh my!" She gasped. "I had no idea. If so, allow me to try again."

Everyone sweat dropped. Sakuno probably misunderstood the situation as well. His explanations were wrong.

"No. Please don't. Instead, please get to the point of why you called us here? I don't think it's only for introductions."

Immediately her cheery mood returned. "Correct you are. I called you all here today because I wish to tell you of news regarding events happening in society caused by the dark hour, and secondly, I have a gift for everyone."

Elizabeth snapped her fingers, and two boxes appeared on the table. One silver, one gold.

"What is that?" Hiromi asked the question on everyone's mind.

There was no reply. Elizabeth opened the silver box first.

If they didn't know better, they would have thought that she was playing a joke on them. For within the box, there was but one content. A glass jar filled with candy.

"Elizabeth…" Sakuno looked towards her in disbelief. "Is that candy we're seeing?"

"Correct." She nodded. "But normal candy it is not. While this might be hard to swallow…" She chuckled at her pun. "The truth is, these candies are actually a powerful medicine meant for persona users. It is one of the last creations a powerful crafter had forged for the group who braved the dark hour many years ago, but did not have the chance to give it to them."

Sakuno held the bottle up in hands and examined. Hiromi and Shino by his sides also trying to examine it. "I don't believe it, but assuming I do. What's it supposed to do?"

"She said that the pills were meant to Insert a synchronization between a persona, and a personae. Doing so will allow one to further explore the roots of their power….or so I was told."

Everyone facefaulted at the last part. Clearly it was obvious Elizabeth had no idea what it was supposed to do.

"Well…" Without any hesitation, Sakuno had pulled opened the cap and poured one into his hand. "Guess there's only one way to find out."

The next few seconds were of silence as he popped the candy into his mouth and swallowed it.

He looked around at everyone. "I don't feel any different. Maybe it's just regular candy?"

A few seconds after saying so, did the world start to spin. He tried to grab onto something to steady himself, but ended up falling. The world was spinning too fast, and before he knew it, all went black.

"Oooo….uuhhhh…" He groaned. Seriously, he couldn't remember when was the last time he had felt so bad.

"Hey everyone he's awake!" There was Hiromi's voice. He pushed himself up and forced his eyes open. He looked around and saw that he was back in his room with Hiromi watching over him. The dark hour was still present, meaning it couldn't have been long since he lost conscious.

A few seconds later, footsteps could be heard and another few seconds later everyone came in.

The moment he saw them, he sighed. "Well that was a bust. I don't think the candy did anything other than give me a headache."

"_Indeed master."_

"Wha-?" He turned about, looking left and right as he heard a new unfamiliar voice.

"What's wrong kid?" Issac asked.

"I thought for a second I had heard another person's voice. Was it just my imagination?" He wondered.

Everyone looked at him for a moment before saying anything. "I think it was your imagination. There's no one around other than us." Hiromi replied.

"_Oh really?"_

Immediately he got off the bed and looked around. "There it is again! Didn't you hear that?"

"_Don't bother master, I don't think they can hear my voice."_

The more they looked at him, the more it seemed like he was talking to himself, but Elizabeth knew better. "Sakuno, I do not believe that you are hallucinating, nor are you insane. Why not you ask the identity of who you are talking to?"

"All right than, who are you? And…why can't the others hear you?"

He heard laughter. _"Really Master? Must you ask who I am? Think clearly…I'm speaking to you and you alone. My words convey directly to your mind. Who do you think I am?"_

"Nope, still can't tell."

He heard a sigh. _"Fine, I have appeared before you twice. The first time I appeared, there was nothing going on. The second time I appeared was to protect you. I was slammed into the ground by a huge muscular shadow. Who do you think I am?_

"Hel?"

"_Correct! You win a prize master…or so I would like to offer you one but I can't." _

He turned towards Elizabeth. "It's Hel! She's speaking directly into my mind."

"Whose Hel?" Issac and Hiromi asked in unison.

"His persona." Elizabeth just replied like that. She than looked redirected his attention towards Sakuno. "You are saying that you can communicate directly with your persona?"

He nodded. "Yeah. That's about right. You think the candy did this?"

"_You could say that."_

"I would assume that to be the case." Elizabeth than changed her attention to the three others. "Well. Not that we understand what the candy is supposed to do, why not the three of you take one as well?"

Not that she gave them an option of their own. With a snap of her finger, all three suddenly pass out and hit the ground.

"Was it necessary?" He sighed.

"_Must you ask?"_ Hel inquired.

"I figured it would be faster this way." She shrugged. With another snap of her fingers, the bottle of candy appeared in her hand. She pulled three piece out and one by one slotted them into the mouths of her unconscious victims.

"How long have I been unconscious for I wonder?" He wondered out loud.

Surprisingly it was not Elizabeth who replied but his persona.

"_Twenty minutes master."_

"Thanks Hel."

In just a matter of seconds, Elizabeth had successfully drugged the three of them. They were unconscious, but they would wake soon enough.

Elizabeth sighed. "Sakuno, I have to leave soon. But before I do so, I must inform you of two more things. Please listen to me."

He shrugged. "Why not?"

She smiled as she led him back to the ground floor, leaving the remaining 3 unconscious in his room.

Perhaps it was for the best that Elizabeth did not inform him, but that tonight would be the very last time they saw each other.

* * *

**I decided to stop using Elizabeth because I have trouble with her personality.**

**Anyway...I introduced some new characters in this chapter.**

**Issac Laught: Unfufilled**

**Hiromi: Huejaded965**

**KO: Shino Tarakagi**

**Like I said. If I cannot get NEW people to come in. I'm scrapping this story. There's barely enough to even form a party. And I'm NOT GOING TO ACCEPT MORE FROM PEOPLE WHO HAVE ALREADY SENT IN!**

**So yeah, this might be the last chapter.**


End file.
